Clinical Features of Rickettsial Infection in Children in Tropical Australia-A Report of 15 Cases

Abstract

Rickettsial infections are an under-recognized cause of acute, undifferentiated fever in the tropics. In Asia, intensive care unit (ICU) admission rates as high as 21% and case-fatality rates of up to 5% have been reported. This 20-year retrospective audit of children and adults with serologically confirmed scrub typhus or spotted fever group (SFG) infection was performed at a tertiary-referral hospital in tropical Australia. There were 15 paediatric cases during the study period (11 scrub typhus, 3 SFG and 1 undifferentiated). Hypotension [5/15 (33%)], tachycardia [6/15 (40%)] and tachypnoea [6/15 (40%)] were common at presentation. Children were more likely to be hypotensive at admission than adults [5/15 (33%) vs. 5/118 (4%), p = 0.002]. However, no child died or was admitted to ICU, compared with 18/120 (15%) adults who required ICU support during the study period, one of whom died. Paediatric rickettsial infections have a relatively benign clinical course in tropical Australia with serious complications appearing far less frequently than have been reported in the Asian literature.