The etiology of acute infectious febrile illnesses at a tertiary care hospital: an experience from a hilly region of Uttarakhand

Yogita Rawat; Shekhar Pal; Arti Negi; Uneza Husain; Rahul Nath; Nidhi Negi

doi:10.18502/ijm.v17i6.20364

Yogita Rawat Department of Microbiology, Government Doon Medical College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Shekhar Pal Department of Microbiology, Government Doon Medical College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Arti Negi Department of Microbiology, Government Doon Medical College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Uneza Husain Department of Microbiology, Government Doon Medical College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Rahul Nath Department of Microbiology, Government Doon Medical College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
Nidhi Negi Department of Microbiology, Government Doon Medical College, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/ijm.v17i6.20364

Keywords: Acute febrile illness; Salmonella; Fever; Scrub typhus; Malaria

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The differential diagnosis of acute febrile illness (AFI) is influenced by the regional distribu- tion of prevalent diseases. Hence, in our hospital-based data analysis, we evaluated the AFI cases presented to our center to raise awareness among clinicians and microbiologists regarding the percentage positivity of the prevailing diseases in the context of AFI based on serology, in and around the city of Dehradun.

Materials and Methods: A total of 38,869 suspected AFI patients were enrolled in the study, and their specimens were analysed for infectious etiologies, including dengue, malaria, enteric fever, and scrub typhus by antigen-antibody based detection methods.

Results: Data analysis conducted from September 2021 to December 2022 among patients with AFI revealed that enteric fever, dengue, scrub typhus, and malaria accounted for 12.65%, 7.37%, 1.44%, and 0.18% of cases, respectively.

Conclusion: Since enteric fever followed by dengue was found to be contributing the maximum, mass education regarding safe drinking water, hygiene, sanitation, and strengthening of vector control measures is the need of the hour.