Causes of fever in Tanzanian adults attending outpatient clinics: a prospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Exploring fever aetiologies improves patient management. Most febrile adults are outpatients, but all previous studies were conducted in inpatients. This study describes the spectrum of diseases in adults attending outpatient clinics in urban Tanzania.

Methods

We recruited consecutive adults with temperature ≥38°C in a prospective cohort study. We collected medical history and performed a clinical examination. We performed 27 364 microbiological diagnostic tests (rapid tests, serologies, cultures and molecular analyses) for a large range of pathogens on blood and nasopharyngeal samples. We based our diagnosis on predefined clinical and microbiological criteria.

Results

Of 519 individuals, 469 (89%) had a clinically or microbiologically documented infection

SUBMITTER: Boillat-Blanco N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8186429 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature