Aetiologies of Acute Undifferentiated Febrile illness in Adult Patients - an Experience from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Northern India.

Acute undifferentiated febrile illness (AUFI) is a common clinical entity in most of the hospitals. The fever can be potentially fatal if the aetiology is not recognized and appropriately treated early.To describe the aetiology of fever among patients in a tertiary care hospital in Northern India.A one-year retro-prospective, observational study was conducted in adults (age>18years) presenting with undifferentiated febrile illness (of duration 5-14 days). Diagnosis was confirmed by suitable laboratory tests after exhaustive clinical examination.A total of 2547 patients with AUFI were evaluated. Of these, 1663 (65.3%) were males and 884 (34.7%) were females. Dengue (37.54%); enteric fever (16.5%); scrub typhus (14.42%); bacterial sepsis (10.3%); malaria (6.8%); hepatitis A (1.9%); hepatitis E (1.4%); leptospirosis (0.14%); were the main infections while no specific diagnosis could be delineated in 11%. Mixed infections were noted in 48 (1.9%) patients.A good clinical acumen supported by the basic investigations can help diagnose the cause of fever with reasonable certainty.