Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon.
Pédiatric Unit, Douala Laquintinie Hospital, Douala, Cameroon.
PLoS One. 2023 Jan 24;18(1):e0278407. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0278407. eCollection 2023.
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.
在资源有限的国家,大多数儿童的急性发热是由疟疾引起的,而且往往在没有实验室证据的情况下进行治疗。本研究旨在描述杜阿拉拉昆蒂尼耶医院儿科部门的儿科急性感染性发热(APIF)。一项横断面研究在 2 个月至 15 岁的急性发热患儿(婴儿发热时间<5 天,体温≥37.5°C,青少年发热时间 7 天,体温≥37.5°C)中进行。共纳入 200 例患儿,并在住院期间进行随访。患儿平均年龄为 3.7 岁(25-75% IQ 范围:1-4.6 岁)。超过 5 例患者中的 3 例(62.5%)来自另一家医疗机构,贫血占发热相关就诊原因的 29%。主要症状为呕吐(28%)、咳嗽(26%)、抽搐(21%)和腹泻(20%)。皮肤黏膜苍白(43.0%)和肝脾肿大(26.0%)是最常见的体格检查发现。在发热患儿中,116/200 例(58%)至少感染了 1 种病原体,1/200 例(0.5%)为病因不明的发热。疟疾(53% vs 80.5%疑似)伴贫血(95.3%的病例)是最常见的与 APIF 相关的病理,其次是肺炎(19.5%)、脑膜炎(11.5%)和尿路感染(10% vs 54.5%疑似)。疟疾在入院时被过度诊断和过度治疗,尿路感染也存在这种情况。需要更好地了解常见病原体的携带情况,提高诊断能力,并为儿童发热性疾病应用更好的临床算法。