Could acute Q fever be causing some cases of pediatric acute encephalitis syndrome in eastern Uttar Pradesh?

Abstract

Purpose: Q -fever is an underestimated zoonotic infection caused by Coxiella burnetii (CB). Humans are accidental host, and CB infection along with febrile illness also does neurological disorder. In India pediatric acute encephalitis syndrome (pAES) is reported very often from eastern Uttar Pradesh (E-UP), where, in 20–25 % of the cases, etiology remains unidentified. Therefore, we aim to investigate the seroprevalence for acute Q fever (AQF) among the hospitalized pAES patients, truly negative for other reported etiologies of the region by ELISA. Pricipal results: Total 282 pAES cases were recruited in this study. Each case presented with fever, and vomiting. Further, a combination of one or more symptoms including headache, abnormal body movement, frothing from mouth, up-rolling eyeballs, and unconsciousness was observed in infected patients. In this study we have found 2.1 % (6/282) seroprevalence of P2 Coxiella burnetii IgM in studied cases. Conclusion: The finding would assist clinicians in appropriate diagnosis of AES cases in India. Moreover, this study suggests further surveillance for CB infection among cases with neurological disorder.

Keywords

• Coxiella burnetii
• Encephalitis
• Pediatric
• Q-fever
• Zoonosis