Clinical profile and etiological patterns of pediatric tropical fever: Experience from a tertiary care center from eastern India

Sanan Md, Misra S, Sahoo S

Pdf Page Numbers :- 252-257

Sanan Md¹, Sarbani Misra^1,* and Sushama Sahoo¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, Malda Medical College and Hospital, Malda-732101. West Bengal, India

*Corresponding author: Dr. Sarbani Misra (Roy), Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Malda Medical College and Hospital, Malda-732101. West Bengal, India. Email: misra.sarbani@gmail.com

Received 26 February 2025; Revised 22 May 2025; Accepted 10 June 2025; Published 18 June 2025

Citation: Sanan Md, Misra S, Sahoo S. Clinical profile and etiological patterns of pediatric tropical fever: Experience from a tertiary care center from eastern India. J Med Sci Res. 2025; 13(3):252-257. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17727/JMSR.2025/13-44

Copyright: © 2025 Sanan Md et al. Published by KIMS Foundation and Research Center. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Abstract

Background: Pediatric tropical fevers represent a significant public health problem in our country. Multiple viral, parasitic and bacterial pathogens are responsible for tropical diseases in endemic regions. The study aimed to assess the clinical and etiological profile of tropical fever cases presenting to our tertiary care hospital in the northern part of West Bengal.

Materials and methods: This observational, cross-sectional study was done in hospitalized children after obtaining approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee. Duration was 1 year from December 2022 to November 2023. Participants satisfied the inclusion criteria and confirmed positive on laboratory investigations were enrolled. Written informed consent from parents was obtained.

Results: A total of 100 patients were finally enrolled for analysis. Mono infections were present in 78% patients, and 22% patients had more than one concurrent infections. The causes of tropical fever included dengue (59%), scrub typhus (50%), enteric fever (7%), malaria (4%), and other infections. Clinical features included vomiting (92%), abdominal pain (82%) pallor (76%), and rash (58%) and others manifestations. Children aged 5-12 years comprised 62% and males were 60% in our study. Survival rate was (97%) and mortality rate was 3%.

Conclusion: Dengue and scrub typhus emerged as the major contributors to pediatric tropical fever in this study. Early identification and targeted management based on regional epidemiological pattern can reduce adverse outcome. Further research on a large scale is essential to validate and generalize our findings.

Keywords: tropical fever; clinical and etiological profile; children; eastern India