Laboratory profile of scrub typhus in children admitted at Bankura Sammilani medical college, India: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: An in-depth evaluation of routine baseline investigations is required in clinically suspected cases of scrub typhus fever due to the unavailability and/or delayed arrival of serological testing in all remote health care facilities. This may assist medical professionals diagnose and promptly administer anti-scrub medication. Methods: A cross-sectional research was conducted on 105 children who had scrub typhus fever admitted in a tertiary healthcare facility. The children were selected one after the other till desired sample size was achieved. Basic demographic information, clinical symptoms, and test results were all recorded. Software called EpiInfo 3.5.1 was used for analysing the collected information. For continuous variables, rate and ratio were used to express them, whereas standard deviation and mean were used for categorical variables. Once more, ANOVA was used for analysing association between categorical variables. P-values of <.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Of the 105 children, 90.48% were from country-side and 56.19% were male. The most common haematological abnormalities were anaemia (84.76%), leucocytosis (42.86%), and, thrombocytopenia (46.67%). The biochemical changes include hypoproteinaemia (28.57%), hypoalbuminemia (23.81%), hyponatremia (50.48%), and elevated serum levels of ALT (66.67%) and AST (84.76%). An extended duration of fever was shown to be related with a statistically significant (P value =< 0.05) association between mean haemoglobin concentration, leucocyte and thrombocyte count, and serum levels of sodium. Conclusions: Early recognition and management of scrub typhus fever may be aided by the presence of anaemia, thrombocytopenia, leucocytosis, hypoproteinaemia, albuminemia, hyponatremia, and elevated serum levels of alanine and aspartate amino transferase.