Clinical profile and response to steroids in post-fever retinitis: a nine-year experience from a referral institute in the rural hinterland of Central India

Purpose To describe the demographics, clinical features, and treatment outcomes with systemic steroids in eyes presenting with post-fever retinitis (PFR) from Central India. Methods Single-center, retrospective analysis of 147 eyes of 98 PFR cases between 2011 and 2019. Results Mean age of the study cohort was 33.4612.76 years, with 72 males and 26 females. The mean interval between the onset of fever and the diminution of vision was 21.10 +/- 13.54 days (range 0-60 days). The number of PFR cases increased over the nine years with 89 cases (90.1%) presenting during winters. Unilateral involvement was seen in 49 cases, while 49 had bilateral involvement. Clinical characteristics included: multifocal retinitis (n=122; 61.2%), hemorrhages (n=132; 89.8%), disc edema (n=57; 38.8%), anterior chamber reaction (n=28; 19%), and vitritis (n=103; 70.1%). Treatment included intravenous followed by oral steroids in 70 patients and oral steroids exclusively in 23; five patients denied treatment. The visual acuity improved from 1.09 +/- 0.52 LogMAR to 0.29 +/- 0.42 LogMAR (p<0.05). Conclusion There has been an increase in the prevalence of PFR cases over the last decade with clustering during the winters. Multifocal retinitis, retinal hemorrhages, and vitritis were the most common clinical findings in our series. The retinitis resolved with improvement in vision following steroid therapy in all eyes.