Hepatopathy in Scrub Typhus: Clinical Presentation, Association With Morbidity and Impact on Outcome

Acute liver injury accompanies tropical fevers like scrub typhus. This study was undertaken to evaluate liver injury in scrub typhus and its association with the disease severity.

This was a single-centre prospective, observational study on in-patients of scrub typhus from north India. All patients were categorized on basis of elevation of transaminases as having normal or abnormal liver function. Those with hepatopathy were sub-categorized as having mild, moderate, severe or very severe liver injury.

Liver dysfunction was present in 76/109 of the patients and was significantly associated with eschar, clinically discernible hepatomegaly and splenomegaly. Shock, renal and respiratory insufficiency, need for intensive care and oxygen supplementation were also significantly associated with hepatopathy. Duration of hospitalization and mortality were comparable in patients with/without liver injury; however delayed defervescence (6.2+3.8 vs. 4.5+2.5 days; p=0.025) was observed with hepatopathy. Icterus (p=0.001), hepatomegaly (p=0.015), thrombocytopenia (p<0.001) and raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (p=0.003) were significantly observed with increasing grade of liver injury.  Conclusion: Liver dysfunction and its increased severity in scrub typhus did not translate into increased morbidity and/or poor outcomes.