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Prevalence and risk factors for scrub typhus in South India
Author(s) -
Trowbridge Paul,
P. Divya,
Premkumar Prasanna S.,
Varghese George M.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
tropical medicine and international health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.056
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1365-3156
pISSN - 1360-2276
DOI - 10.1111/tmi.12853
Subject(s) - medicine , seroprevalence , multivariate analysis , demography , scrub typhus , risk factor , body mass index , univariate analysis , univariate , protective factor , logistic regression , environmental health , multivariate statistics , immunology , serology , virology , statistics , mathematics , antibody , sociology
Objective To determine the prevalence and risk factors of scrub typhus in Tamil Nadu, South India. Methods We performed a clustered seroprevalence study of the areas around Vellore. All participants completed a risk factor survey, with seropositive and seronegative participants acting as cases and controls, respectively, in a risk factor analysis. After univariate analysis, variables found to be significant underwent multivariate analysis. Results Of 721 people participating in this study, 31.8% tested seropositive. By univariate analysis, after accounting for clustering, having a house that was clustered with other houses, having a fewer rooms in a house, having fewer people living in a household, defecating outside, female sex, age >60 years, shorter height, lower weight, smaller body mass index and smaller mid‐upper arm circumference were found to be significantly associated with seropositivity. After multivariate regression modelling, living in a house clustered with other houses, female sex and age >60 years were significantly associated with scrub typhus exposure. Conclusions Overall, scrub typhus is much more common than previously thought. Previously described individual environmental and habitual risk factors seem to have less importance in South India, perhaps because of the overall scrub typhus‐conducive nature of the environment in this region.