A Rejang river rash

A 30-year-old Iban woman presented to a rural primary healthcare clinic located along the Batang Rejang in Sarawak. She had a 2-day history of rash, which started over her trunk and later spread to her face and limbs. What started out as individual erythematous maculopapular spots later coalesced to form larger raised blotches. The rash was extremely pruritic and affected her sleep, and hence her visit. The rash was preceded by high grade, persistent fever that was temporarily relieved by paracetamol. She also complained of malaise, arthralgia and myalgia. Her appetite had been poor since the onset of the fever. She lived in a long house at the edge of the jungle. Although she did not have a history of going into the jungle to forage, she went regularly to the river to wash clothes. Clinically, she appeared lethargic and had bilateral conjunctival injection. Her left anterior cervical lymph nodes were palpable. There were erythematous macules measuring 5 to 15 mm distributed over her whole body but predominantly over the chest and abdominal region (Figure 1). An unusual skin lesion was discovered at the right hypochondriac region. This lesion resembled a cigarette burn with a necrotic centre (Figure 2). There was no evidence of hepato-splenomegaly. Examination of the other systems was unremarkable. On further questioning, the patient admitted being bitten by a ‘kutu babi’ or mite 3 days before the onset of her fever.