High levels of Interleukin − 13 in patients with scrub typhus correlate with disease severity

Abstract Scrub typhus is a zoonotic infectious disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi infection. It has a high fatality rate if not treated in time. Currently, there are still limited reliable biomarkers for predicting the disease progression of scrub typhus. A Retrospective Analysis of the Clinical Features of Scrub Typhus and the Exploration of Early Indicators for Progression to Moderate-Severe Disease. Using the Luminex method, we quantified ten cytokines in the serum of patients with moderate-severe scrub typhus (n = 51), mild scrub typhus (n = 32), and healthy controls (n = 62). We compared serum cytokine levels, clinical manifestations, and laboratory indicators between groups and analyzed their correlations to identify early clinical indicators of progression to moderate-severe scrub typhus. Moderate-severe patients exhibited elevated GM-CSF and IL-13 versus mild cases. This group also showed higher WBC, NC count, LDH, CRP, and reduced RBC, PLT, HGB, HCT, and ALB. IL-13 correlated positively with WBC, NC count, AST, CRP and inversely with RBC, HGB, HCT, TP, ALB. Elevated IL-13 correlates with the occurrence of moderate - severe scrub typhus. Elevated IL-13 levels may serve as an early indicator for scrub typhus progression to moderate-severe disease. Early diagnosis and treatment for patients with a tendency toward moderate-severe scrub typhus are essential in order to reduce the case-fatality rate.