Saudi Journal of Medicine (SJM)
Volume-3 | Issue-02 | 32-39
Original Research Article
Clinical and Etiological Profile of Classic Fever of Unknown Origin at Tertiary Care Hospital of a Hilly State
Pramod Jaret, Prem Machhan, Balbir Singh Verma, Fariduddin, Vimal Bharti, Amit Sachdeva, Simarjot
Published : Feb. 28, 2018
Abstract
FUO is an important medical problem worldwide, especially in the undeveloped countries like India. To have a structured, sensible and effective approach the clinician must have an understanding of the spectrum of disease and test characteristics of various diagnostic modalities available in the evaluation of FUO. The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical and etiological profile of patients having classic FUO. It was a cross sectional study for one year duration from 1st June 2013 to 31st May 2014 and was performed in the Department of Medicine in I.G.M.C. Shimla. All the admitted Patients above 18 year of age and who fulfilled the Durack and Street criteria of FUO were included in the study. After initial history taking and physical examination, the patients were subjected to routine, serological & radiographic investigations. Data was entered using microsoft excel software and analyzed with the help of epi info v7. A total of 45 patients who admitted with FUO were included Mean age of the patients was 33 years and majority of the patients were in young age group of 18-40 years (76%).There was male preponderance (69%) and most of the patients were from rural background (71%).The mean duration of fever 46.6 days and mean duration of hospitalization was 14.4 days. Infections were responsible for 80% cases of FUO. These infections included tuberculosis (29%), enteric fever (17.5%), intra-abdominal abscesses (8.8%), chloroquine responsive fever (4.4%), brucellosis (7%), lieshmaniasis (4.4%), and UTI (2.2%). Non Infectious Inflammatory Disease (NIID) and neoplasms were were responsible for only 4.4% and 2.2% of cases, while 13.2% of the cases remained undiagnosed. Infections are the most important cause of fever of unknown origin in the developing countries like India and tuberculosis is the leading cause. Thus the initial investigations should always include tests for ruling out or confirming diagnosis of infectious disease.