Evaluating the Febrile Patient with Rash in Case of Dengue, Chickunguniya and Measles in Gandhi Hospital: 2017 – 2018

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Evaluating the patients who presents with feverand rash can be challenging because the differential diagnosisis extensive and includes minor and life threatening illnesses.Febrile rashes are classified into maculopapular rash,generalized diffuse erythema, and vesicular. Currently, viralexanthems are by far the most common cause of fever withrash in children. Study aimed to identify the patients presentingwith febrile rash and to confirm cases by laboratory diagnosticmethods to ensure fast, economical and speedy confirmationof the cause.Material and methods: A survey was carried out fromMay 2017 to Sep 2018 by the Department of Microbiologywith technical support from OP and IP staff. Blood sampleswere collected after informed consent. Serum samples werescreened for immunoglobulin M by ELISA, test was processedaccording to the manufacturer’s instructions.Results: This study covered 215 subjects out of which (55.9%)were males and (43.6%) were females, cases were segregatedwith different age groups 0 – 5 years, 6 – 12years, 13-18 yearsand adults > 18 years who developed febrile rash with fever.All the samples were screened for virus specific IgM.Conclusion: There is a need for routine surveillance programat every teaching Hospital setting to ensure the incidenceof the febrile rash with illness in children among differentage groups. Diagnosis can be established serologically byemphasizing the need for Clinico-serological correlationof rashes. As antibiotics will be required to treat bacterialdiseases, knowing the viral etiology will help in avoidingunnecessary administration of antibiotics.