Scrub typhus usually presents with fever. The mite-borne infection tends to announce itself with high temperatures, swollen lymph nodes, a rash, and a small black scab where an infected chigger bit. But pediatricians at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Hyderabad recently described a case in which the infection showed up as something far less expected: tetany, the involuntary muscle cramping and spasms that can happen when certain minerals in the blood drop too low.
The report, titled "An unusual presentation of scrub typhus as tetany: A case report," was published online July 7, 2026, in the peer-reviewed journal Tropical Doctor and appears in volume 56, issue 4. The authors describe a patient with symptomatic hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia, meaning low levels of calcium and phosphate that were causing symptoms. They concluded the mineral losses were probably driven by the kidneys failing to hold on to electrolytes, calling it a "potentially under-recognized metabolic manifestation" of the disease.
