Etiology of severe non-malaria febrile illness in Northern Tanzania: a prospective cohort study.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The syndrome of fever is a commonly presenting complaint among persons seeking healthcare in low-resource areas, yet the public health community has not approached fever in a comprehensive manner. In many areas, malaria is over-diagnosed, and patients without malaria have poor outcomes. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We prospectively studied a cohort of 870 pediatric and adult febrile admissions to two hospitals in northern Tanzania over the period of one year using conventional standard diagnostic tests to establish fever etiology. Malaria was the clinical diagnosis for 528 (60.7%), but was the actual cause of fever in only 14 (1.6%). By contrast, bacterial, mycobacterial, and fungal bloodstream infections accounted for 85 (9.8%), 14 (1.6%), and 25 (2.9%) febrile admissions, respectively. Acute bacterial zoonoses were identified among 118 (26.2%) of febrile admissions; 16 (13.6%) had brucellosis, 40 (33.9%) leptospirosis, 24 (20.3%) had Q fever, 36 (30.5%) had spotted fever group rickettsioses, and 2 (1.8%) had typhus group rickettsioses. In addition, 55 (7.9%) participants had a confirmed acute arbovirus infection, all due to chikungunya. No patient had a bacterial zoonosis or an arbovirus infection included in the admission differential diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Malaria was uncommon and over-diagnosed, whereas invasive infections were underappreciated. Bacterial zoonoses and arbovirus infections were highly prevalent yet overlooked. An integrated approach to the syndrome of fever in resource-limited areas is needed to improve patient outcomes and to rationally target disease control efforts.

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1371/journal.pntd.0002324

Publication Info

Crump, John A, Anne B Morrissey, William L Nicholson, Robert F Massung, Robyn A Stoddard, Renee L Galloway, Eng Eong Ooi, Venance P Maro, et al. (2013). Etiology of severe non-malaria febrile illness in Northern Tanzania: a prospective cohort study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 7(7). p. e2324. 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002324 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13779.

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Scholars@Duke

Crump

John Andrew Crump

Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine

I am based in northern Tanzania where I am Site Leader for Duke University’s collaborative research program based at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre and Director of Tanzania Operations for the Duke Global Health Institute. I oversee the design and implementation of research studies on infectious diseases, particularly febrile illness, invasive bacterial disease, HIV-associated opportunistic infections, clinical trials of antiretroviral therapy and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and infectious diseases diagnostics. In addition, I am a medical epidemiologist with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). My CDC work focuses on enteric infection epidemiology and prevention in developing countries, particularly invasive salmonelloses.

Muiruri

Charles Muiruri

Assistant Professor of Population Health Sciences

Dr. Muiruri is a health services researcher, Assistant Professor in the Duke Department of Population Health Sciences, Assistant Research Professor in the Global Health Institute, and Adjunct lecturer at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Moshi Tanzania.
Broadly, his research seeks to improve the quality of healthcare and reduce disparities for persons with multiple chronic conditions both in and outside the United States. His current work focuses on prevention of nonAIDS comorbidities among people living with HIV. His current projects funded by NIAID, NHLBI and NIMHD focus on improving the quality of cardiovascular disease prevention and care among people living with HIV in North Carolina and Tanzania.

Areas of Expertise: Mixed methods, Qualitative methods, Applied Econometrics in Health services Research,  Preference research, Implementation Science, Global Health, Health Policy

Bartlett

John Alexander Bartlett

Professor of Medicine

My clinical investigation is focused on the pathogenesis and treatment of HIV infection and its complications, especially in resource-limited settings.

Key Words: HIV infection, AIDS, treatment strategies, treatment failure, co-infections, resource-limited settings


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