Rickettsioses as Underrecognized Cause of Hospitalization for Febrile Illness, Uganda.

ABSTRACT: The complexity of rickettsial serodiagnostics during acute illness has limited clinical characterization in Africa. We used archived samples from sepsis (n = 259) and acute febrile illness (n = 70) cohorts in Uganda to identify spotted fever and typhus group rickettsiae by using immunofluorescence assay and clinically validated rRNA reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). Among 329 participants, 10.0% had rickettsial infections (n = 33; n = 20 identified with immunofluorescence assay and n = 13 by RT-PCR). Serum rRNA RT-PCR was 75.0% (95% CI 42.8-94.5%) sensitive and 91.2% (95% CI 85.8-95.1%) specific. Thrombocytopenia was more common among patients with rickettsial infections than with other nonmalarial infections (adjusted odds ratio 3.7; p = 0.003). No participants were on a tetracycline an

SUBMITTER: Blair PW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12407214 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature