SEASONAL TREND OF FEVER CASES SEEKING HEALTH CARE SERVICES AT A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE- AN AUDIT OF RETROSPECTIVE DATA FROM SUB-HIMALAYAN REGION

BACKGROUND Climate change is expected to alter the geographic and seasonal distributions of existing vectors and vector-borne diseases. Febrile illness is the most common presentation of these diseases and a public health problem affecting most of the people in developing world along with the prevailing burden of other communicable diseases. Aims and Objectives- To study the seasonal trend analysis (2013 - 15) of fever cases admitted in a tertiary centre of Himachal Pradesh. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective descriptive record-based analysis of fever cases admitted in medicine and paediatrics ward from 2013 - 15 of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Kangra at Tanda, H.P. RESULTS Among febrile illnesses, fever of unknown origin is the leading cause of illness in all the three years. There is a resurgence of scrub typhus infection with increasing trend of cases in monsoon and post-monsoon season. Fever with neurological involvement was also recorded among young and productive age group in winter season with an upward trend. CONCLUSION There are only a limited number of studies from India reporting on the aetiology of fever and reliable surveillance data are not available; hence, a better insight in the epidemiology of febrile diseases will be helpful in order to target clinical work-up and treatment.