IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences (IOSR-JDMS) e-ISSN: 2279-0853, p-ISSN: 2279-0861.Volume 20, Issue 1 Ser.3 (January. 2021), PP 37-40 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/0853-2001033740 www.iosrjournal.org 37 | Page Microbiological Etiology of Fever at a Tertiary Care Center Dr.Kauser Fatima 1 , Dr.L Jaya Lakshmi 2 , Dr.G Jyothi Lakshmi 3 , Dr P Shashikala Reddy 4 1, (Post graduate, Department of Microbiology, Osmania Medical College,Koti, India) 2 (Professor, Department of Microbiology,SRRIT&CD, Osmania Medical College,Koti, India) 3 (Professor & HOD, Department of Microbiology, Osmania Medical College,Koti, India) 4 (Principal & Professor,Department of Microbiology, Osmania Medical College,Koti, India) Abstract Background: Acute febrile illness is a common cause of patients seeking health care settings posing a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to the health care workers. Previous studies showed increase in the occurrence of mosquito born, water & food born pyrexia cases like dengue, chikungunya, malaria, enteric fever during rainy season. The clinical laboratory parameters gives etiological diagnosis that helps in providing relevant treatment to patients Material And Methods: A total of 2200 patients with history of acute febrile illness admitted in medicine department from August 2019 to October 2019 at Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases were included in the present cross sectional study. .Blood is collected from each patient for serological and hematological tests. Serological tests include WIDAL test, ELISA test for Dengue and Chikungunya. For malarial parasite thick & thin smear using Jaswant Singh- Bhattacharji (JSB) stain. Results: Among 2200 patients dengue positivity was observed in 121 cases (5.5%), chikungunya positive were 28(1.27%), malaria positive were 26(1.18%), and WIDAL test positive in 252(11.45%) samples. Total & differential leukocyte counts and platelet count were correlated. During the study period the highest incidence of dengue & chikungunya was observed in October with 8.73% & 2.8% respectively, whereas malaria in August with 2.39% and WIDALtest in month of September with 17%. Conclusion: The knowledge of the incidence of mosquito born, water & food born febrile illness diseases help in proper clinical management and taking timely preventive measures. Key Word: Acute febrile illness, Dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya, Enteric fever, WIDAL test, JSB --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 26-12-2020 Date of Acceptance: 07-01-2021 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction Fever is a common symptom of any infectious systemic illness which may act as an important cause of morbidity. Most of the febrile illnesses which are not specified, their cause for which treatment is rather generic, typically with antipyretics and antibiotics. Since evidence based epidemiological data on fever is insufficient in tropical areas, clinical decision making is compromised. [1] Every year during and after the rainy season an epidemic of acute febrile illness is witnessed in tropical & subtropical regions. [2] The majority of patients present with non-specific symptoms such as low-grade fever, general malaise, headache, arthralgia, myalgia, and rash; and usually without a focal point of infection. The symptoms and differential diagnosis of these diseases are similar, making accurate clinical diagnosis difficult without laboratory confirmation [3] Vector-borne infections such as malaria and dengue are of major public health concern worldwide. The former is a parasitic disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquito, and the latter is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes mosquito. In a geographical area where both the vectors coexist, simultaneous occurrence of malaria and dengue in an individual cannot be ruled out. The two diseases share many clinical features and may be clinically indistinguishable. It is important; however, to differentiate between the two conditions, otherwise, it may result in a poor outcome due to complications like dengue haemorrhagic fever, dengue shock syndrome. [4] Dengue fever also called as break bone fever is caused by the virus belonging to the family Flavivirus. [5] . According to WHO, annually 50 million cases of DF occur world over with a mortality of 2.5% [6]. Chikungunya (CHIK) fever is a viral disease caused by an alpha virus that is spread by bite of Aedes aegypti mosquito. The sudden onset of the disease including crippling arthralgia and frequent arthritis are clinically distinctive. The disease is almost selflimiting and rarely fatal [7] Typhoid fever is a systemic prolonged febrile illness caused by certain Salmonella serotypes including Salmonella typhi, S. paratyphi A, S. paratyphi B and S. paratyphi C. Human beings are the only reservoir host for typhoid fever, and the disease is transmitted by faecally contaminated water and food in endemic areas especially by carriers handling food. The World Health Organization (WHO)