The study conducted by the researchers from eight medical institutions, including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and PGIMER, Chandigarh, included a sample set of 456 patients across 34 ICUs
A study released on Thursday has revealed that Dengue, followed by Scrub-Typhus, Encephalitis, Malaria and Bacterial Sepsis are the main reasons for ICU admissions across India during the post-monsoon season between August and October. The study conducted by the researchers from eight medical institutions, including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and PGIMER, Chandigarh, included a sample set of 456 patients across 34 ICUs. It was recently published in the Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine.
"Tropical fevers are caused by a number of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa and often get transmitted by an insect bite. The challenge lies in clinically diagnosing them at the time of presentation as they often present as undifferentiated fever and with overlapping signs and symptoms. Laboratory confirmation may not be available or reliable in first few days. Regardless, it is important to treat these patients early as delay leads to increased complications and increased hospital stay and expenditure," said Dr Prakash Shastri, author and vice-chairman, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
The study reflects that Dengue (105.23 per cent) was the most common followed by Scrub-Typhus (83.18 per cent), Encephalitis (44.96 per cent), Malaria (37.8 per cent) and Bacterial Sepsis (32.7 per cent) for the admissions. It also reveals that more than half ie. 58.7 per cent patients with these illnesses get admitted during post-monsoon season.
"We found that in patients admitted to ICU with acute febrile illness and systemic manifestations, Dengue and Scrub-Typhus were the most common etiological diagnoses. Case fatality in our study was 18.4 per cent. The outcome data highlights the importance of reaching the diagnosis as those without a specific diagnosis more often required organ supportive therapies and had a poor outcome," added Dr (Prof) Sunit Singhi, author and Emeritus Pediatrics, PGIMER, Chandigarh.
The study was conducted between July 2013 and September 2014. Dengue killed over 250 people in the country and 1,57,220 people were affected. This was almost double the figures from 2014 when the study was conducted where there were 137 deaths and 40,571 cases reported.
Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles.
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