LAUSR.org creates dashboard-style pages of related content for over 1.5 million academic articles. Sign Up to like articles & get recommendations!

Etiology and clinical characteristics of pediatric acute fever among hospitalized children in an endemic malaria transmission area of Cameroon in Central Africa

Photo from wikipedia

Acute fever in the majority of children in resource-limited countries is attributable to malaria and often treated without laboratory evidence. The aim of the study was to characterize acute pediatric… Click to show full abstract

Acute fever in the majority of children in resource-limited countries is attributable to malaria and often treated without laboratory evidence. The aim of the study was to characterize acute pediatric infectious fevers (APIF) in the pediatric department of the Douala Laquintinie Hospital. A cross-sectional study was conducted among children aged 2 months to 15 years who were admitted with an acute fever (anal temperature ≥ 37.5°C less than 5 days in infants and 7 days in adolescents). 200 children were included and followed up during their hospitalization. The mean age was 3.7 (IQ25-75: 1–4.6) years. More than 3 out of 5 patients (62.5%) came from another health facility and anemia accounted for 29% of the reasons for consultation associated with fever. The main symptoms were vomiting (28%), cough (26%), convulsions (21%) and diarrhea (20%). Skin-mucosal pallor (43.0%) and hepatosplenomegaly (26.0%) were the most common physical signs encountered. Among febrile children, 116/200 (58%) were infected with at least 1 pathogen, and 1/200 (0.5%) had a fever of unknown etiology. Malaria (53% vs 80.5% presumptive) associated with anemia (95.3% of cases) was the most common pathology associated with APIF, followed by pneumonia (19.5%), meningitis (11.5%) and urinary tract infections (10% vs 54.5% presumptive). Malaria was over-diagnosed on admission and over-treated as well as urinary tract infection. A better understanding of common pathogens carriage, a better capacity for improved diagnosis and a better applied clinical algorithm for febrile illnesses in children are needed.

Keywords: etiology clinical; etiology; characteristics pediatric; acute fever; clinical characteristics

Journal Title: PLOS ONE
Year Published: 2023

Link to full text (if available)


Share on Social Media:                               Sign Up to like & get
recommendations!

Related content

More Information              News              Social Media              Video              Recommended



                Click one of the above tabs to view related content.