Leptospirosis and scrub typhus co–infection in febrile patients
Department of Microbiology, KPC Medical College, Kolkata, India.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2020, 06(03), 233-236
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjarr.2020.6.3.0202
Publication history:
Received on 14 June 2020; revised on 20 June 2020; accepted on 23 June 2020
Abstract:
Leptospirosis has to be differentiated from other aetiologies of acute febrile illness like scrub typhus, malaria, enteric fever, dengue and spotted fever. Concurrent infection of leptospirosis can occur with typhoid fever, brucellosis and rickettsial infections. A study was done in a tertiary care centre in Eastern India to determine simultaneous presence of infection of leptospirosis and scrub typhus in sera of febrile patients. IgM antibodies to both leptospira and scrub typhus were detected by Enzyme linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA). During the study period of two years a total of 608 serum samples were received for serology for leptospirosis. Out of these samples 26 patients had IgM antibodies to leptospira, of which 11 (42.31%) also had IgM antibodies to scrub typhus. As both leptospirosis and scrub typhus present with similar clinical features, co-infection of these two diseases may occur and it requires molecular methods for confirmation of these cases.
Keywords:
Leptospirosis; Scrub typhus; Co-infection; ELISA
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