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. 2023 May 20:11:20503121231175303.
doi: 10.1177/20503121231175303. eCollection 2023.

Field epidemiology, clinical findings and outcome of Scrub typhus patients admitted at Gedu District Hospital, Chhukha, Bhutan

Tej Nath Nepal  1 , Geeta Chhetri  2
Affiliations

Field epidemiology, clinical findings and outcome of Scrub typhus patients admitted at Gedu District Hospital, Chhukha, Bhutan

Tej Nath Nepal et al. SAGE Open Med. .

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to understand the field epidemiology, clinical findings, diagnostic reports and outcome of Scrub typhus patients admitted at Gedu District Hospital, Bhutan.

Methods: The researcher extracted data from the records of patients admitted at the hospital from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020, with diagnosis of Scrub typhus. A total of 185 records were used to study the demographic distribution, results of rapid diagnostic test for Scrub typhus, presence of eschar, treatment outcome and duration of admission in the hospital.

Results: The months of May to October had increased admissions of 137 (74%) patients with a peak in September. Three gewogs (sub-districts) had 173 (93.5%) patients; age range was 6 months to 84 years and a greater proportion of patients were females.

Conclusion: Scrub typhus is endemic in the district. The absence of recorded fever or a negative rapid diagnostic test report may not exclude the diagnosis of Scrub typhus.

Keywords: Diagnosis; Scrub typhus; eschar; fever.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Monthly trend of admission of Scrub typhus patients at Gedu Hospital, Bhutan, 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2020, n = 185.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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