The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. · Mar 1984
Febrile illness in Malaysia--an analysis of 1,629 hospitalized patients.
We studied 1,629 febrile patients from a rural area of Malaysia, and made a laboratory diagnosis in 1,025 (62.9%) cases. Scrub typhus was the most frequent diagnosis (19.3% of all illnesses) followed by typhoid and paratyphoid (7.4%); flavivirus infection (7.0%); leptospirosis (6.8%); and malaria (6.2%). ⋯ In rural Malaysia, therapy with chloramphenicol or a tetracycline would be appropriate for undiagnosed patients in whom malaria has been excluded. Failure to respond to tetracycline within 48 hours would usually suggest a diagnosis of typhoid, and indicate the need for a change in therapy.