SURVEILLANCE OF INFECTIOUS ETIOLOGIES AMONG PATIENTS WITH ACUTE FEBRILE ILLNESS IN TELANGANA STATE

Introduction: The worldwide burden of febrile illness, as well as the contribution of several fever-inducing pathogens, have proven difcult to assess, categorize, and quantify. Diagnosing the epidemiology of acute febrile illness is challenging due to lack of specic presentations and lack of diagnosis. Methodology: The current investigation was conducted on 135 individuals with acute undifferentiated febrile illness [AUFI]. The serum samples were serologically analyzed using the manufacturer's methods for Dengue & Chikungunya IgM ELISA, Dengue NS1 ELISA, Leptospira IgM ELISA, Scrub typhus IgM ELISA, Q fever IgM ELISA, and Brucella IgM ELISAs. Results: Dengue & Chikungunya IgM ELISA, Dengue NS1 ELISAnegative samples were processed to identify other zoonotic etiologies, 2/135 of cases [1.4 %] were positive for Scrub typhus IgM ELISA. Further, these 133 samples were processed for other serological assays; 12/133 of the samples [9 %] were diagnosed with Q fever. The remaining 110 samples were processed for Brucella IgM ELISA, which showed 9 [8.1%] positivity. On the other hand, 11 out of 133 [8.2%] and 4 out of 110 [3.6] cases were found to be equivocal for Q fever and Brucella respectively. Conclusion: The AUFI case surveillance is necessary as clinically all the AUFI cases present with the same symptoms. Laboratory conrmation is essential to rene disease burden estimates of common causes of AUFI, with the zoonotic infections on the upsurge due to prevailing environmental conditions.