Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Following Scrub Typhus

Abstract

Scrub typhus is a zoonotic disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi and is an acute febrile illness. Clinically, the manifestations and complications of scrub typhus are protean. Severe complications of this disease have been very rare since the introduction of specific antibiotic therapy. The most serious clinical manifestations are pneumonitis with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), myocarditis, pericarditis, meningoencephalitis, and acute tubular necrosis with acute renal failure. We encountered a case of ARDS associated with scrub typhus. The case was proven by the finding of skin eschars, and the laboratory diagnosis at the Center for Disease Control, Department of Health, Taiwan, confirmed scrub typhus using a serum antibody. The patient recovered dramatically and was successfully weaned from ventilator support after an appropriate antibiotics course.