Rickettsial Infection in Patients with Acute Febrile Illness at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Bengaluru, India - Serological, Demographic and Clinical Profile

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Rickettsial infections are under recognised cause of acute febrile illness (AFI) in India. The reason being low index of suspicion, the absence of specific signs/ symptoms and lack of access to confirmatory laboratory tests. These diseases have a high mortality, which can be averted if diagnosed and treated early. Weil-Felix test is the cheapest and widely used test for diagnosis in India. The present study was undertaken with the objective of evaluating the patients with AFI, for rickettsial infection using Weil-Felix test and study their demographic and clinical profile. Materials and Methods: One hundred Patients with AFI, from June 2015 to December 2016 were evaluated for Rickettsial infection. Detailed history, signs, symptoms were recorded. The serum samples were analysed by Weil-Felix test.

Prevalence of Rickettsial infections in a tertiary care centre

“…Inspite of all its drawbacks, Weil-Felix test still serves as an economical and useful diagnostic tool for laboratory diagnosis of rickettsial diseases provided the test is interpreted in the correct clinical context. 3 Disease was more common among males (60%), similar to studies by Ramyashree et al, 2015, Sanap et al, 2017 10,11 Prevalence in paediatric population was 38.33%, correlated with study by Chunchanur et al 12 Increased outdoor activity may be the reason for this gender and age bias. Majority of the cases were seen during rainy season (70%) followed by (30%) in winter, similar observation has been made in other studies as well.…”

Cutaneous manifestations of Rickettsial fever in paediatric age group

“…Similar results were found in the studies conducted by Kumar et al where 30.6 per cent of the study subjects presented with myalgia.71 Myalgia was seen in only 25 per cent of the patients in a study conducted by Dass et al 6 Myalgia was found to be present in 71.9 per cent of the study population in a study conducted by Kamarasu et al 10…”

“…It was seen in 51% of the patients examined in a study conducted by Chunchanur et al in Bangalore medical college and research institute. 10 Hepatosplenomegaly was found in 39.5% patients in a study conducted by Kumar et al 5…”

“…6,9 In a study conducted by Kamarasu, Malathi in Tamil Nadu headache was found to be the most common symptom after fever, seen in 93.8 per cent of the study population. 10…”

“…5 In a study conducted by Chunchanur et al cutaneous manifestations was encountered in 40% of the 69 patients screened. 10…”