| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 1
| Issue : 3 | Page : 150-153 |
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A hospital based study of rickettsial diseases evidenced by Weil Felix test in a tertiary care hospital
Uttam Udayan, Meena Dias, Santosh Machado
Department of Microbiology, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka, India
Correspondence Address:
Meena Dias
Associate Professor, S 3, Casa Leila, S.L Mathias Road, Falnir, Mangalore - 575 002, Karnataka
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/2348-3334.138883
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Introduction: Rickettsial infections, one of the re-emerging diseases are increasingly underdiagnosed due to nonspecific symptoms, absence of reliable and affordable diagnostic test and contribute substantially to the acute febrile burden and preventive illness in many populations. A delay in diagnosis and therapy are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Objectives: To determine and categorize rickettsial disease titers by Weil Felix test, and to know the frequency of rickettsial diseases in febrile patients presenting to a tertiary hospital. Materials and Methods: In a prospective study, a total of 100 samples were tested by Weil Felix test from patients with fever and results were analyzed. Results: Out of 100 samples 64 were positive. Male preponderance was seen. The most common clinical symptom were fever, rash followed by hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. One patient with a high titer of more than 1280 died of encephalitis. Conclusion: In the absence of availability of a good reliable serological or molecular evidence, Weil Felix test can be used in the laboratories mainly due to cost and technical aspects of other reliable tests for diagnosis. |
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