SCRUB TYPHUS - A RE-EMERGING DISEASE: ESTIMATING THE BURDEN AND OUTCOME OF SCRUB TYPHUS IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

Background: Scrub typhus is regarded as an important cause of acute febrile illness. If not diagnosed early, it is often tends to be fatal. Methods: A Prospective Observational study was carried out among patients reporting with fever in a tertiary care hospital at Delhi. Weil Felix test and rapid test for scrub typhus was performed on the patient samples. Results: A total of 265 cases were screened for typhus group of fever, of these 26 (9.1%) patients (18 males and 8 females) were diagnosed having rickettsial fever. Out of these, 24 (92.3%) were diagnosed having scrub typhus fever. Conclusions:In present study, we observed 9.1% seropositivity in acute febrile illness. We conclude that a simple Weil Felix test should be included in routine workup of fever cases and a strong suspicion should be there where other laboratory tests remain inconclusive in endemic areas like Delhi-NCR.