Etiology of acute undifferentiated febrile illness in the Amazon basin of Ecuador

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2009 Jul;81(1):146-51.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Acute Disease
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Dengue / physiopathology
  • Fever / etiology*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Leptospirosis / physiopathology
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Malaria / physiopathology
  • Middle Aged
  • Q Fever / physiopathology