Undifferentiated febrile illnesses in South Sudan: a case series from Operation TRENTON from June to August 2017
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Undifferentiated febrile illnesses present diagnostic and treatment challenges in the Firm Base, let alone in the deployed austere environment. We report a series of 14 cases from Operation TRENTON in South Sudan in 2017 that coincided with the rainy season, increased insect numbers and a Relief in Place. The majority of patients had headaches, myalgia, arthralgia and back pain, as well as leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. No diagnoses could be made in theatre, despite a sophisticated deployed laboratory being available, and further testing in the UK, including next-generation sequencing, was unable to establish an aetiology. Such illnesses are very likely to present in tropical environments, where increasing numbers of military personnel are being deployed, and clinicians must be aware of the non-specific presentation and treatment, as well as the availability of Military Infection Reachback services to assist in the management of these cases.
Date Issued
2021-09-27
Date Acceptance
2019-07-19
Citation
BMJ Military Health, 2021, 167 (5), pp.358-361
ISSN
2633-3767
Publisher
BMJ
Start Page
358
End Page
361
Journal / Book Title
BMJ Military Health
Volume
167
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
License URL
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2020-02-23