Published in IJCP March 2019
INTERNAL MEDICINE
Clinical and Laboratory Evaluation of Patients with Fever with Thrombocytopenia
March 11, 2019 | Shankar R Raikar, Panna K Kamdar, Ajay S Dabhi
Internal Medicine
     


Aims: To evaluate clinical profile of fever with thrombocytopenia. To identify the causes of fever with thrombocytopenia. To assess the clinical complications associated with fever and thrombocytopenia. Material and methods: This study was done on patients, who were admitted to Sir T Hospital and Government Medical College, Bhavnagar, Gujarat. We prospectively collected a series of 100 patients with fever and thrombocytopenia. Results: Age and sex distribution: In this study, males outnumbered females. Platelet count and bleeding: Of 100 patients, four had bleeding manifestations. There was no correlation between platelet count and bleeding. Degree of thrombocytopenia in various diseases: (1) Viremia: Among infectious cases, viremia including dengue accounted for the vast majority. In this study, out of 100 cases viremia including dengue accounted for 52 cases. (2) Dengue: In our study, dengue caused severe thrombocytopenia. Twenty patients out of 40 cases had count <50,000/mm3. (3) Malaria: In our study, malaria caused mild-to-moderate thrombocytopenia with counts remaining between 50,000 to 1 lacs in most cases. Bleeding manifestations: In our study, out of 100 patients only four patients presented with bleeding manifestations. Three patients of mixed Plasmodium vivax with Plasmodium falciparum malaria presented with petechiae, purpura and hematuria. One patient of dengue presented with gum bleeding. Platelet count and fever: In this study, shortest duration of fever was 3 days and longest was 10 days. Platelet count started increasing from 2nd day of admission to 8th day of admission with relative treatment. Enteric fever: In our study, out of 100 patients, three had fever with thrombocytopenia without any bleeding manifestations.