Aetiology of acute febrile illness among children attending a tertiary hospital in southern Ethiopia

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 3 Laboratory findings in febrile children attending HUCSH, 2018–2019

Laboratory testing ^c	Frequency (%)
Blood counts (N = 427)
Leukopenia	41 (9.6)
Leukocytosis	68 (15.9)
Neutrophilia	62 (14.5)
Lymphocytosis	2 (0.5)
Anaemia	51 (11.9)
Blood tests (N = 431)
Malaria	14 (3.2)
Plasmodium falciparum	8 (1.8)
Plasmodium vivax	6 (1.4)
HIV	3 (0.7)
Blood culture (N = 421)	27 (6.4)
Staphylococcus aureus	16 (3.8)
Klebsiella species	4 (1.0)
Other^a	7 (1.6)
Urine culture (N = 402)	74 (18.4)
Escherichia coli	37 (9.2)
Klebsiella species	16 (4.0)
Staphylococcus aureus	5 (1.2)
Other^b	18 (4.5)
Stool testing (N = 56)
Microscopy
Giardia lamblia	2 (3.6)
Cryptosporidium species	1 (1.8)
Rotavirus /Adenovirus RDT
Rotavirus	14 (25)
Adenovirus	4 (7.1)
Culture
Salmonella Paratyphi A	1 (1.8)
Shigella dysenteriae	1 (1.8)
Respiratory infection tests
Throat swab (N = 177) GAS	28 (15.8)
Urine (N = 182) Streptococcus pneumoniae	31 (17.0)
Other
CSF (N = 10) viridians streptococci	1 (10)
Ear discharge (N = 2) E. coli	1 (−)
CoNS	1 (−)

GAS group A Streptococcus, CSF cerebrospinal fluid, CoNS coagulase-negative staphylococci, RDT rapid diagnostic test
^aHaemophilus parainfluenzae (n = 2), Haemophilus influenzae (n = 1), Enterrococcus species (n = 1), fungal cells (n = 3)
^bProteus vulgaris (n = 3), Morganella morganii (n = 3), Enterococcus species (n = 3), Providencia rettgeri (n = 2), Pseudomonas species (n = 2), Citrobacter species (n = 2), Streptococcus pyogenes (n = 1), Staphyloccocus saprophyticus (n = 1), Streptococcus agalactiae (n = 1)
^c The total number of children tested (N) varied as inadequate or no sample was obtained for some children

ISSN: 1471-2334