Bengaluru: A thirteen-year-old girl was successfully treated for a rare case of Rickettsial Disease at Specialist Hospital, Bengaluru.
The patient was admitted in the emergency ward with high grade fever, ague, headache, vomiting and abdominal pain. She also had E-coli urinary tract infection. She had incoherent speech, was dehydrated and collapsed in the emergency ward. A comprehensive blood test revealed Rickettsial Disease and further investigation revealed that she had recently returned from a vacation in a hilly area. A urine culture also revealed the prevalence of E-Coli UTI. Suitable treatment was administered and within 48 hours, the patient responded positively to the medication and was on the way to recovery.
“What makes it an unusual case is that this disease is prevalent mainly in hilly and wooded areas and uncommon in urban areas. A delay in proper diagnosis in this patient would have led to further complications including heart failure, renal failure, liver failure, brain manifestations like confusion, disorientation, and could have led to a coma or fatality. It is extremely challenging to diagnose Rickettsial Disease as the symptoms are similar for Malaria, Dengue, COVID, and flu. Since this disease is not an urban phenomenon, most laboratories in the city do not provide diagnostic tests for it. We were able to narrow down on the bacterial infection through a process of elimination and specific tests for Rickettsial Disease based on her travel history which helped us save her life.” said Dr Sriram Bonu, Paediatrician, Specialist Hospital.
Scrub typhus is one form of Rickettsial Disease caused by a bacteria named Orientia Tsutsugamushi, of Japanese origin. Tsutsuga that translates to illness and mushi into insects. The symptoms include high fever, rashes and it affects the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, renal, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems. It spreads through the bites of infected larval mites which act as carriers of scrub typhus commonly attached to the body surface of rats. The mortality rate of patients with Rickettsial Disease is about 38% in India.
The patient has been discharged and is recuperating at home.