Volume 18, Number 5—May 2012
Dispatch
Unsuspected Rickettsioses among Patients with Acute Febrile Illness, Sri Lanka, 2007
Megan E. Reller
, Champica Bodinayake, Ajith Nagahawatte, Vasantha Devasiri, Wasantha Kodikara-Arachichi, John J. Strouse, Judith E. Flom, Truls Østbye, Christopher W. Woods, and J. Stephen Dumler
, Champica Bodinayake, Ajith Nagahawatte, Vasantha Devasiri, Wasantha Kodikara-Arachichi, John J. Strouse, Judith E. Flom, Truls Østbye, Christopher W. Woods, and J. Stephen DumlerTable 2
Epidemiologic characteristics of patients with and without IgG evidence of rickettsial exposure at enrollment, southern Sri Lanka, 2007
| Characteristic | Negative rickettsial titer, n = 591 | SFGR, n = 76 | TGR, n = 12 | Orientia tsutsugamushi,† n = 106 | SFGR/TGR, n = 98 | p value‡ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median age, y (IQR) | 26 (16–44) | 30 (23–48) | 25 (19–48) | 46 (34–56) | 34 (23–55) | 0.0001 |
| Male sex | 42 | 33 | 17 | 38 | 36 | 0.21 |
| Residence | 0.03 | |||||
| Urban | 6 | 13 | 9 | 13 | 12 | |
| Rural | 94 | 87 | 91 | 87 | 88 | |
| Type of work | <0.001 | |||||
| Homemaker | 26 | 26 | 18 | 32 | 24 | |
| Laborer | 21 | 26 | 45 | 35 | 28 | |
| Farmer | 2 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 6 | |
| Merchant | 2 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 4 | |
| Student | 28 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 19 | |
| Other | 21 | 34 | 9 | 16 | 20 | |
| Exposure | ||||||
| Dog | 57 | 46 | 50 | 57 | 44 | 0.10 |
| Cat | 35 | 26 | 25 | 30 | 30 | 0.43 |
| Rodent | 27 | 22 | 83 | 35 | 19 | <0.001 |
| Cow | 5 | 4 | 17 | 5 | 6 | 0.48 |
| Paddy field | 10 | 8 | 0 | 18 | 8 | 0.07 |
| Water source | 0.03 | |||||
| Tap | 29 | 45 | 17 | 29 | 35 | |
| Boiled | 13 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 4 | |
| Well | 57 | 54 | 75 | 65 | 60 | |
| Other | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
*Values are % patients unless otherwise indicated. SFGR, spotted fever group rickettsiae; TGR, typhus group rickettsiae; IQR, interquartile range.
†Includes 8 patients with apparent SFGR or TGR co-infections.
‡Kruskal-Wallis test to compare proportions across groups.
