Acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses (AUFI) are characterised by fever of less than two weeks’ duration without organ-specific symptoms at the onset.
Mnemonic MA-ESR lists the five main disease groups that cause acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses
a. Malaria: Including all malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum, P vivax, P ovale, P malariae, P knowlesi
b. Arboviral infections: Such as dengue, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, Zika, yellow fever
c. Enteric fever: Due to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Paratyphi A, B, C
d. Spirochete infections: Such as leptospirosis and tick-borne or louse-borne relapsing fever
e. Rickettsial infections: Including scrub typhus, murine typhus, spotted fevers
Further reading: Bhargava A, Ralph R, Chatterjee B, Bottieau E. Assessment and initial management of acute undifferentiated fever in tropical and subtropical regions. BMJ. 2018 Nov 29;363:k4766. doi: 10.1136/bmj.k4766. PMID: 30498133.
