Roadmap for the Management of Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness: An Expert Discussion and Review of Available Guidelines.

Acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses (AUFIs) are associated with specific characterizations like fever of less than two weeks' duration with no organ-specific symptoms at onset. These range from mild and self-limiting disease to progressive, life-threatening illness. Acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses are classified into malaria and non-malarial illnesses on the basis of microscopy or malariadiagnostic tests. Various challenges, such as comorbidities, geriatrics, pregnancy, and immune-compromised profile of the patient, impede the treatment regimen. Identifying the root cause of undifferentiated fever becomes critical and involves correct diagnostic tests along with empirical treatment initiation. Doxycycline, being a broad-spectrum antibiotic, confers activity against many Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and "atypical" bacteria. Apart from antimicrobial activity, Doxycycline demonstrates the potential to inhibit dengue virus replication and exhibits anti-inflammatory activity by down-regulating proinflammatory cytokine levels. As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads, the clinical management of associated cytokine storm remains unanswered. Considering the probable beneficial effect of doxycycline, it has been recommended by the national and international experts for the empirical management of COVID-19.

Susceptibility Pattern of Doxycycline in Comparison to Azithromycin, Cefuroxime and Amoxicillin against Common Isolates: A Retrospective Study Based on Diagnostic Laboratory Data.

INTRODUCTION: Doxycycline acts against a broad range of gram-positive, gramnegative and 'atypical' bacteria as well as some protozoan pathogens such as malaria. In this era of increasing multidrug-resistance, recycling of old antimicrobials should be considered and need more focus in this domain of research. We, therefore, aimed to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of commonly isolated pathogens against doxycycline, azithromycin, cefuroxime, and amoxicillin from common clinical specimens by using laboratory-based diagnostic data from western India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The non-interventional retrospective study was conducted on secondary data extracted from multi-center diagnostic laboratory based in Mumbai, India. Susceptibility data of bacteria isolated from blood, urine, pus, and sputum were used in the study and culture positive samples were segregated. Antimicrobial susceptibility status of doxycycline was checked and compared with azithromycin, cefuroxime, and amoxicillin. Chi-square tests of significance were carried out to assess significant differences in susceptibility patterns. Association between variables was considered statistically significant if the p-value was <0.05. RESULTS: Percentage susceptibility of collective bacterial isolates was found to be highest for doxycycline in all four specimens (93.1%). Individual percentage susceptibility was observed to be highest for sputum isolates (97.5%) followed by blood (93.8%), pus (92.7%) and urine (70.0%). The activity of doxycycline was found to be 93.5% for the samples resistant to azithromycin. Doxycycline also showed good susceptibility for the isolates resistant to amoxicillin and cefuroxime which was 75.9% and 64.8%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Several bacterial isolates from all four sources were found to be susceptible to Doxycycline. It has an important role in the form of a better alternative of major antimicrobial agents like azithromycin, cefuroxime, and amoxicillin against gram-positive cocci. Doxycycline appeared to show better activity against isolates which were resistant to other three antimicrobials.