Splenic infarct with scrub typhus: a rare presentation

Abstract

Scrub typhus has a variety of clinical presentations ranging from asymptomatic to fever with chills, myalgias, hepatitis, gastric ulcerations and pancreatitis, all being attributed to disseminated vasculitis, with splenic infarction being a rare presentation. A 26-year man, a resident of north India, presented with an acute febrile illness and abdominal pain, computed tomography scan of the abdomen was suggestive of a splenic infarct. After ruling out other aetiology, a positive IgM (ELISA) for scrub typhus led to treatment with oral doxycycline, following which the patient was discharged symptom-free. Rarely can splenic infarction be attributable to scrub typhus; so far, five such cases have been reported in the published literature.

Scrub Typhus Presenting As Acute Febrile Illness With Splenic Infarct: A Rare Manifestation

“…Another case was reported in 2014 from South India, followed by another case report in 2015 from Korea [6,7]. Another few cases have been reported during 2018-2020 from India and Korea [8]. More recently in 2020, another case of a young male in India, diagnosed with splenic infarct associated with scrub typhus complicated further by a splenic abscess, was reported [9].…”

Clinical, Hematological, Biochemical and Radiological Characteristics for Patients With Splenic Infarction: Case Series With Literature Review

“…Infection Cytomegalovirus [6][7][8] Epstein-Barr virus [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Infective endocarditis [16][17][18][19][20][21][22] COVID-19 [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] Dengue virus [36] Mycoplasma pneumoniae [37,38] Malaria [39,40] Scrub typhus [41,42] Aspergillus pericarditis [43] Babesiosis [44] Malignancy including neoplasm and myeloproliferative diseases…”