International Conference on
Clinical Microbiology and Immunology

Biography:

Pradip Hamal completed his Post graduate degree in Clinical Microbiology at the age of 30 years from Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Nepal. He started working in Chitwan Medical College Teaching hospital, Bharatpur, right after completing his undergraduate degree in Medical Laboratory Technology (BMLT) from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He is currently designated as senior medical laboratory officer of Pathology department in BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital. His duties and responsibilities include QC analysis, perform special test, laboratory report authorization, staff management and staff duty roster maintenance. Besides, He is also working as a lecturer to Bachelor Nursing students (BNS) in BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, Bharatpur, Nepal in 2018 A.D.

 

Abstract:

Scrub typhus infection is one of the major global public health problems and has tremendous burden in Nepal. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of Scrub typhus among febrile patients, attending Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital (CMC-TH), Chitwan. A hospital based prospective study was conducted on patients with suspected Scrub typhus in CMC-TH from 1^st July 2016 to 30^th June 2017. Blood samples were collected from acute febrile illness patients. The detection of Immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies to Orientia tsutsugamushi from the serum sample was done by ELISA. Among 1797 enrolled individuals, 524 (29.2%) were found to be IgM positive for Orientia tsutsugamushi, with female to male ratio of 1.49. Additionally, the high prevalence was observed among farmers (37.8%). On top of all, seasonal variation showed that the majority (57.7%) of the infected individuals were reported in the month of July. Regarding clinical symptoms, fever was the most common (100%) clinical features observed in the study followed by anorexia (64.7%), and headache (54.6%). Similarly, notable laboratory parameters in Scrub typhus positive cases included thrombocytopenia (73.7%), haemoglobin <11gm/dL (46.9%) and leucocytosis >11000/µL (23.5%). We observed a high prevalence rate of (29.2%) Scrub typhus among patient presented with acute febrile illnesses. Eschar was an important clue to diagnosis of Scrub typhus. However, it was less common (6.5%) features in Scrub typhus infection. Nepal has a Scrub typhus epidemic iceberg tilting to emerge anytime soon. Pragmatic approach for prevention, diagnosis, timely reporting and management of this endemic disease is necessary. The ELISA based facility should be used for timely and economical diagnosis of Scrub typhus.