Study to Investigate the Causes of Fever in Children Living in Urban Dar es Salaam and Rural Ifakara

Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute1,010 enrolled

Overview

The goal is to improve the evidence-based management of fever cases seen in outpatient clinics in malaria endemic countries, through a better understanding of the value of accurate malaria diagnosis, and through an improved understanding of the other causes of fever in children. The objective is to describe systematically (as much as possible) the etiologies of fever in children in an urban and in a rural environment of sub-Saharan Africa.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

1,010

Conditions

Fever Children Infectious Diseases

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 2 MonthsMax age: 10 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * axillary temperature of 38°C or more * first consultation for the present problem * history of fever lasting for one week or less * main complaint was not an injury or trauma * no report of an antimalarial or antibiotic medicine taken during the previous week Exclusion Criteria: * severe malnutrition * categorized as P1 (requiring immediate live saving procedures)

Locations (2)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Proportion of each disease and proportion of fevers of unknown origin in febrile children aged 2 months to 10 years attending an Outpatient Department of a district hospital in Dar es Salaam and in Ifakara

Time frame: December 2011

Secondary Outcomes

Clinical and laboratory predictors of each disease

Time frame: December 2011