Rickettsioses as Major Etiologies of Unrecognized Acute Febrile Illness, Sabah, East Malaysia

Orientia tsutsugamushi, spotted fever group rickettsioses, and typhus group rickettsioses (TGR) are reemerging causes of acute febrile illness (AFI) in Southeast Asia. To further delineate extent, we enrolled patients >4 weeks of age with nonmalarial AFI in Sabah, Malaysia, during 2013–2015. We confirmed rickettsioses (past or acute, IgG titer >160) in 126/354 (36%) patients. We confirmed acute rickettsioses (paired 4-fold IgG titer rise to >160) in 38/145 (26%) patients: 23 O. tsutsugamushi, 9 spotted fever group, 4 TGR, 1 O. tsutsugamushi/spotted fever group, and 1 O. tsutsugamushi/... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Matthew J. Grigg
Timothy William
Emily G. Clemens
Kaajal Patel
Arjun Chandna
Christopher S. Wilkes
Bridget E. Barber
Nicholas M. Anstey
J. Stephen Dumler
Tsin W. Yeo
Megan E. Reller
Dokumenttyp: Artikel
Erscheinungsdatum: 2020
Reihe/Periodikum: Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol 26, Iss 7, Pp 1409-1419 (2020)
Verlag/Hrsg.: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Schlagwörter: rickettsioses / acute febrile illness / Sabah / East Malaysia / Orientia tsutsugamushi / spotted-fever group rickettsiosis / Medicine / R / Infectious and parasitic diseases / RC109-216
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-27673577
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2607.191722

Orientia tsutsugamushi, spotted fever group rickettsioses, and typhus group rickettsioses (TGR) are reemerging causes of acute febrile illness (AFI) in Southeast Asia. To further delineate extent, we enrolled patients >4 weeks of age with nonmalarial AFI in Sabah, Malaysia, during 2013–2015. We confirmed rickettsioses (past or acute, IgG titer >160) in 126/354 (36%) patients. We confirmed acute rickettsioses (paired 4-fold IgG titer rise to >160) in 38/145 (26%) patients: 23 O. tsutsugamushi, 9 spotted fever group, 4 TGR, 1 O. tsutsugamushi/spotted fever group, and 1 O. tsutsugamushi/TGR. PCR results were positive in 11/319 (3%) patients. Confirmed rickettsioses were more common in male adults; agricultural/plantation work and recent forest exposure were risk factors. Dizziness and acute hearing loss but not eschars were reported more often with acute rickettsioses. Only 2 patients were treated with doxycycline. Acute rickettsioses are common (>26%), underrecognized, and untreated etiologies of AFI in East Malaysia; empirical doxycycline treatment should be considered.