Key result
Empirical antibiotics linked to resolution of hearing loss and otalgia in four scrub typhus patients.
Why the study?
Sensorineural hearing loss and severe otalgia as complications of scrub typhus have been observed but are not well characterized.
Case Report (n=4)
Scrub typhus should be suspected in endemic areas when patients present with fever, rash, and sensorineural hearing loss or otalgia without otoscopic abnormalities.
May prompt scrub typhus consideration in endemic fever with unexplained otalgia or hearing loss; hypothesis-generating from case reports only.
BACKGROUND: Scrub typhus is an acute febrile illness caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. CASE PRESENTATIONS: We encountered a patient with sensorineural hearing loss complicating scrub typhus, and three patients with scrub typhus who complained of otalgia, which was sudden onset, severe, paroxysmal, intermittent yet persistent pain lasting for several seconds, appeared within 1 week after the onset of fever and rash. The acute sensorineural hearing loss and otalgia were resolved after antibiotic administration. CONCLUSION: When patients in endemic areas present with fever and rash and have sensorineural hearing loss or otalgia without otoscopic abnormalities, clinicians should suspect scrub typhus and consider empirical antibiotic therapy.
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Kang et al. (2009) conducted a case report in Scrub typhus with otological complications (n=4). Antibiotic therapy was evaluated on Resolution of otological symptoms. In four patients with scrub typhus, acute sensorineural hearing loss and severe otalgia resolved within one week following empirical antibiotic administration.
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