ABSTRACT
Objective:The epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 18 cases of Japanese spotted fever (JSF) in Zigui County were analyzed in order to improve the prevention and treatment of JSF.Methods:This is a case series analysis. The epidemiological and clinical data, laboratory tests and imaging characteristics of 18 JSF cases with median age of 60 years (54, 68) identified by The People′s Hospital of Zigui from April 2021 to August 2022 were collected and analyzed retrospectively.Results:Most (17/18) of the patients were farmers and all had a field exposure history. The patient′s onset was from April to October. Spring and autumn were the seasons with the highest incidence of JSF. The first symptoms of patients were high fever, headache, and fatigue. Of the 18 cases, 15 had a rash and 12 presented an eschar and 3 had neither rash nor eschar. In addition, 10 of 18 cases experienced edema of both lower extremities, and 3 got disturbance of consciousness. Laboratory tests found that 15 patients had abnormal white blood cells and 11 patients had decreased platelets. C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase, and alpha-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase were elevated in all patients; 13 patients with elevated alanine aminotransferase, 14 patients with elevated aspartate transamination. Kidney damage caused by Rickettsia japonica infection showed by abnormal proteinuria in 11 of the patients. Conclusions:The most common clinical manifestations of JSF are non-specific indications such as high fever, chills, fatigue, headache. The eschar and rash, which are the main features of Rickettsia infection, are not present in all patients, resulting delay of diagnosis or misdiagnosis. Medical workers should be more alert to rickettsial infections in patients with fever of unknown origin, especially in seasons of high incidence of spotted fever. Early diagnosis and correct antibiotic treatment shall be given according to the patient′s clinical manifestations, laboratory results and imaging test to control disease progression.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the current health status of the targeted recipients of the precision poverty alleviation program in Taiziwan Village, Shazhenxi Town, Zigui County and explore its influencing factors, and to provide reference for the formulation of local health poverty alleviation policies. Methods A cluster sampling method was used to investigate 115 poverty alleviation recipients aged 18 and above in Taiziwan Village. The status of “physiological health” and “mental health” was investigated using the international general SF-36 (Chinese version) health scale. Results The survey subjects were mainly the people with advanced age, low education background and suffering from chronic diseases. Except for the physiological function score being more than 70 points, the scores of other dimensions were all 60 points around. The scores were 61.74±19.86 points for physical health and 59.05±16.91 points for mental health, respectively. People aged 60 and above scored lower in all dimensions than those aged under 60. Factors that affected both physical and mental health of the whole population were advanced age and chronic diseases. While the factors that affected physical health of people aged 60 and above were chronic diseases, the factors that affected mental health were chronic diseases and a long interval between children's home visits. Conclusion The health status of people aged 60 and above is worse than that of people aged below 60. Their physical health is affected by chronic diseases, and their mental health is affected by chronic diseases and children's visit cycles. While formulating poverty alleviation policies for physical health, an attention should also be paid to mental health.