title: Etiology of acute undifferentiated febrile illness in the Amazon basin of Ecuador.
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.
authors: Rural Medical Services, Parrottsville, Tennessee 37843, USA. stevemanock@yahoo.com
authors: Stephen R
authors: SR
authors: Manock
authors: Kathryn H
authors: KH
authors: Jacobsen
authors: Narcisa Brito
authors: NB
authors: de Bravo
authors: Kevin L
authors: KL
authors: Russell
authors: Monica
authors: M
authors: Negrete
authors: James G
authors: JG
authors: Olson
authors: José L
authors: JL
authors: Sanchez
authors: Patrick J
authors: PJ
authors: Blair
authors: Roger D
authors: RD
authors: Smalligan
authors: Brad K
authors: BK
authors: Quist
authors: Juan Freire
authors: JF
authors: Espín
authors: Willan R
authors: WR
authors: Espinoza
authors: Fiona
authors: F
authors: MacCormick
authors: Lila C
authors: LC
authors: Fleming
authors: Tadeusz
authors: T
authors: Kochel
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003715:Dengue / Q000503:physiopathology; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008288:Malaria / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011778:Q Fever / Q000503:physiopathology