Etiology of Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2009
Description
We conducted a longitudinal observational study of 533 patients presenting to two hospitals in the Ecuadorean Amazon basin with acute undifferentiated febrile illness (AUFI) from 2001 through 2004. Viral isolation, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), IgM seroconversion, and malaria smears identified pathogens responsible for fever in 122 (40.1%) of 304 patients who provided both acute and convalescent blood samples. Leptospirosis was found in 40 (13.2%), malaria in 38 (12.5%), rickettsioses in 18 (5.9%), dengue fever in 16 (5.3%), Q fever in 15 (4.9%), brucellosis in 4 (1.3%), Ilhéus infection in 3 (1.0%), and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE), Oropouche, and St. Louis encephalitis virus infections in less than 1% of these patients. Viral isolation and RT-PCR on another 229 participants who provided only acute samples identified 3 cases of dengue fever, 2 of VEE, and 1 of Ilhéus. None of these pathogens, except for malaria, had previously been detected in the study area.
Citation Information
Manock, Stephen R.; Jacobsen, Kathryn H.; De Bravo, Narcisa B.; Russell, Kevin L.; Negrete, Monica; Olson, James G.; Sanchez, José L.; Blair, Patrick J.; Smalligan, Roger D.; Quist, Brad K.; Espín, Juan F.; Espinoza, Willan R.; MacCormick, Fiona; Fleming, Lila C.; and Kochel, Tadeusz. 2009. Etiology of Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Vol.81(1). 146-151. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.2009.81.146 PMID: 19556580 ISSN: 0002-9637