Fiery Fevers - An Epidemiological Evaluation and Management Strategies Experience from a Community Based Day Care Centre

Abstract

Telangana has a long association with fiery fevers caused by mosquito bites. It is in fact in Telangana that Sir Ronald Ross discovered the malarial parasite in mosquito’s gut in the month of August 1897 for which he was later awarded Nobel Prize in 1902. Malaria has been high on the differential diagnosis in patients presenting with fever in this region. However, over the last two decades there has been an increased incidence of mosquito borne viral diseases with India becoming endemic for Dengue and Chikungunya. The prevalence of these has been on a rise and Telangana region has been no exception. An unpredictable and sudden outbreak of fever cases prevailed from August to October 2019 in Hyderabad, most of them were viral fevers and among them Dengue emerged as a major toll, to a lesser extent Chikungunya and others. Objective of this study is to present a clear and comprehensive picture of the prevailing causes of such a fever outbreak in this specified time frame in our Diagnostics and Day care centre. Serum samples were collected from all fever cases and sent to laboratory and analysed according to the following criteria –age, gender, presenting complaints, lab evaluation etc. The results have been interpretated in the form of tables, figures and graphs reflecting the predominant cause of fevers. The study showed that majority of the cases were in the age group 20–30 years with a male predilection and significant number of patients showed leucopenia and thrombocytopenia even in non dengue and non chikungungya patients. This sudden emergence is being attributed to sparkling vector transmission due to an incessant rainfall during this time inhabiting breeders in stagnant waters. It also reemphasizes the need for regular public health maintenance programmes including removing of stagnant water, mosquito control, regular public awareness camps. Need of the hour would be for both governmental and nongovernmental agencies to work in coordination to reduce the disease burden.