Research Journal of Medical Sciences
ISSN: Online 1993-6095ISSN: Print 1815-9346
Abstract
Scrub typhus is a rickettsial infection caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. Scrub typhus is an important cause of acute febrile illness in India. Central nervous system (CNS) involvement is a known complication of scrub typhus, which ranges from aseptic meningitis to frank meningoencephalitis. Based on this aim of our study is to estimate the incidence and describe the pattern of neurological involvement among patients with scrub typhus in a rural tertiary care hospital. This study was done as a Prospective observational study at Critical care unit and medical wards of Government Dharmapuri Medical College and Hospital for a period of 1 year from August 2021 to July 2022 in 50 patients diagnosed with scrub typhus with neurological manifestations Clinical examination, blood samples for routine blood investigations, fever profile, Neuro imaging‐CT or MRI, CSF examination was done in all patients. All patients in our study presented with fever and myalgia, among neurological presenting complaints in particular. Headache was most common seen in 84% of patients followed by altered sensorium in 72% of patients. On further evaluation with radiological and clinical manifestation, following were the clinical manifestation with Nearly 64% had meningitis and meningoencephalitis, Cerebellitis and encephalopathy was seen in 8%, Unusual cases of transverse myelitis, Acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis were also seen. In our study, CSF examination was done in 33 patients with altered sensorium. Increased lymphocytes was seen in 14 patients, increased protein (>45mg/dl) in 17 cases. Low sugar (<20mg/dl) seen in 9 cases. Neurological manifestations are very common in scrub typhus. Rickettsial disease can present with various neurological features of varying severity. Knowledge of these manifestations will enable clinicians to consider scrub typhus as one of the differential diagnoses of acute febrile illness with neurological involvement. The neurological complications in scrub typhus have good prognosis if diagnosed and treated early.
How to cite this article:
R. Poongodi, C. Anandi and M. Seenivasan. Profile of Neurological Manifestations of Scrub Typhus in a Rural Tertiary Care Hospital.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36478/10.36478/makrjms.2025.1.613.616
URL: https://www.makhillpublications.co/view-article/1815-9346/10.36478/makrjms.2025.1.613.616