Effect of Scrub Typhus Disease on Liver Function – A Hospital Based Observational Study at a Tertiary Care Centre, Assam, India

Abstract

Background And Objectives : Scrub typhus is a chigger-borne zoonotic disease, caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. Humans are accidental hosts. It occurs all along East Asia with many recent outbreaks in North-East India. It shows similar symptoms to other tropical infections and its disease spectrum ranges from mild febrile illness to severe life-threatening illness with multi organ dysfunctions. This study was done to observe relationship between scrub typhus and liver function. Methods : A hospital based observational study was conducted on randomly selected 40 scrub typhus patients ( between 12 and 60 years) diagnosed by detecting IgM antibody using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) over a period of 1 year at a tertiary care centre, Assam. Liver function tests were performed on the diagnosed cases using reectance spectrophotometry method on automated analyser. The values of LFT were estimated and p-values were calculated to establish statistical signicance. Results : Total 40 number of cases of scrub typhus was taken for our study with a mean age of 29.28 years among which, males were 57.5% and females were 42.5%. Bilirubin elevation was seen in 25 patients (62.5%), AST was increased in 36 patients (90%), ALT was increased in 35 patients (87.5%), ALK was high in 25patients (62.5%), 32 pateints (80%) had hypoalbuminemia, with a p value of < 0.05, which is statistically signicant. Interpretation And Conclusion : Our study concluded that scrub typhus could to be taken into consideration in patients with undifferentiated fever with abnormal liver function tests.