Study of acute undifferentiated fever cases and their etiologies in rural Konkan area of Maharashtra state
Background: Acute undifferentiated fever (AUF) is a common cause for which the patients seek health care in India. It is region specific and has similar clinical presentation, with varied etiologies. Due to this it posses challenge to the diagnosis, treatment and public health. Majority of pa...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BKL Walawalkar Rural Medical College & Hospital
2016-08-01
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| Series: | Walawalkar International Medical Journal |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.wimjournal.com/html/journal/images/3aa2.pdf |
| Summary: | Background:
Acute undifferentiated fever (AUF) is a
common cause for which the patients seek
health care in India. It is region specific and
has similar clinical presentation, with varied
etiologies. Due to this it posses challenge to
the diagnosis, treatment and public health.
Majority of patients present with nondescript
symptoms. Scrub typhus, Malaria, Enteric
Fever, Dengue, Leptospirosis, Chikungunya,
Spotted fever, Rickettsiosis, Hantavirus, Q
fever, Brucellosis, Influenza and other
bacterial infections are some of the common
etiologies of AUF. The prevalence of local
AUF etiologies helps to prioritize differential
diagnosis and guide the treatment. The study
aimed to find out the predominant AUF
etiologies in the rural Konkan area of
Maharashtra state in India.
Materials and Methods:
This prospective observational study
was conducted at a tertiary care hospital on the samples received from District hospitals and
Primary health centers from Sindhudurg
District of Maharashtra state for the duration
of October 2012 to January 2014. Patients
with age 5years and with classical symptoms
of febrile illness were included in the study.
About 500 blood samples received were
investigated for Malaria, Bacterial culture
sensitivity, Leptospira culture, ELISA for
scrub typhus, Brucella, Dengue and
Leptospira and further evaluated for
commonest region specific AUF etiology.
Results:
The study included 500 blood samples
obtained from patients presenting with
classical symptoms of AUF. Samples received
from males showed highest number of positive
cases amounting for 82.47% with majority of
cases (83%) cases in middle age group. The
sero-positivity of samples accounted for
42.8%. Brucella was the most common cause
of AUF (28.50%) followed by Leptospira
(27.10%) and Scrub typhus (21.49%).
Interestingly there were no positive cases of malaria and only 11.21% samples positive for
Dengue which are considered as most
common AUF etiologies and treated
accordingly.
Conclusion:
AUF is the most common clinical problem
worldwide with varied etiologies and non
descript symptoms. Understanding of
etiologies, their local prevalence and their
specific features will be helpful in treating
AUF cases during various outbreaks. |
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| ISSN: | 2349-2910 2395-0684 |