Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital, Biratnagar, Nepal.
Department of Biochemistry, Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital, Biratnagar, Nepal.
JNMA J Nepal Med Assoc. 2020 Mar;58(223):165-169. doi: 10.31729/jnma.4777.
Scrub typhus is an under-diagnosed and undertreated zoonotic human infection. There are no data related to profile of adult patients in Nepal. We conducted this study to report socio-demographic, clinical profile and complications of scrub typhus in our scenario.
This was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital, eastern Nepal. The sample enrollment process was consecutively who were admitted under medical ward and intensive care unit. Diagnosis was established serologically with positive test of IgM antibodies against scrub typhus using immuno-chromatography. Operational definitions for organ system dysfunction were based upon simple available clinic laboratory profiles and imaging. Collected data were entered in Microsoft Excel 2007 and converted it into Statistical Package for Social Science 11.5 Version for statistical analysis.
A total of 47 patients were analyzed during this study. Diagnosis of scrub typhus was more common 17 (36.17%) in age group of (40-60 years) with female predominance 32 (68.08%). Most patients (70.15%) were of above 40 years. Fever 47 (100%), asthenia 40 (85.10%), generalized body-ache 41 (87.23%), anorexia 46 (97.87%) and headache 39 (82.97%) were present in most of our patients at sometime during their illness. Respiratory dysfunction was the commonest 37 (78.72%) system dysfunction followed by renal 30 (63.82%) and hepatic 20 (42.55%) impairment. Fortunately no deaths occurred.
Scrub typhus occurred more commonly in elderly female patients. Early empirical treatment may prevent mortality. Large studies involving whole country is needed to see real scenario of disease in this setting.
恙虫病是一种被低估的、治疗不足的人畜共患传染病。尼泊尔没有关于成人患者情况的数据。我们开展此项研究旨在报告在尼泊尔的成人患者的临床特征、并发症。
这是一项在尼泊尔东部诺贝尔医学院教学医院进行的描述性横断面研究。连续纳入收入内科病房和重症监护病房的患者。采用免疫层析法检测抗恙虫病 IgM 抗体，血清学阳性诊断恙虫病。根据简单的临床实验室和影像学特征，确定器官系统功能障碍的操作定义。收集的数据输入 Microsoft Excel 2007 并转换为统计分析软件包 Statistical Package for Social Science 11.5 版本。
本研究共分析了 47 例患者。在（40-60 岁）年龄组中，恙虫病诊断更为常见（17 例，占 36.17%），女性为主（32 例，占 68.08%）。大多数患者（70.15%）年龄超过 40 岁。发热 47 例（100%）、乏力 40 例（85.10%）、全身疼痛 41 例（87.23%）、厌食 46 例（97.87%）、头痛 39 例（82.97%）是患者在疾病过程中不同时期的常见症状。呼吸功能障碍最常见（37 例，占 78.72%），其次是肾功能障碍（30 例，占 63.82%）和肝功能障碍（20 例，占 42.55%）。幸运的是，没有死亡发生。
恙虫病多见于老年女性患者。早期经验性治疗可能预防死亡。需要开展全国性的大型研究，以了解该国该疾病的真实情况。
