Scrub typhus: a great masquerader

Introduction: Scrub typhus, a rickettsial disease, with high morbidity and mortality is prevalent throughout India.
Aims & objectives: The aim is to study the different clinical manifestations and complications associated with scrub typhus.
Material & methods: This was a prospective study carried out in the department of general medicine, Calcutta National Medical College& Hospital, Kolkata, during second half of the year 2018 (July 2018-December 2018) and patients were followed up for 3 months.
Result: Total 86 patients were diagnosed with scrub typhus during the study period. 53.5% of patients were female. Age range of the patients was as low as 20 years and as high as 73 years with most patients were in the fourth decade (29%). Apart from fever, respiratory distress and cough were the most common presentation (33.7%). Among other presenting complaints altered sensorium, lymphadenopathy and decreased urine output were the common ones.
Conclusions: Scrub typhus is prevalent throughout the India. It can present like innocuous fever or severe sepsis with multi organ dysfunction. It should be diagnosed at proper time to administer proper management to save the patient’s life, because scrub typhus has high mortality.