Invasive bacterial and fungal infections among hospitalized HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children and infants in northern Tanzania.
Crump, John A;
Ramadhani, Habib O;
Morrissey, Anne B;
Msuya, Levina J;
Yang, Lan-Yan;
Chow, Shein-Chung;
Morpeth, Susan C;
Reyburn, Hugh;
Njau, Boniface N;
Shaw, Andrea V;
+6 more...Diefenthal, Helmut C;
Bartlett, John A;
Shao, John F;
Schimana, Werner;
Cunningham, Coleen K;
Kinabo, Grace D;
(2011)
Invasive bacterial and fungal infections among hospitalized HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected children and infants in northern Tanzania.
Tropical medicine & international health, 16 (7).
pp. 830-837.
ISSN 1360-2276
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2011.02774.x
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OBJECTIVE: To describe the contribution of paediatric HIV and of HIV co-infections to admissions to a hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, using contemporary laboratory methods. METHODS: During 1 year, we enrolled consecutively admitted patients aged ≥2 months and <13 years with current or recent fever. All patients underwent standardized clinical history taking, a physical examination and HIV antibody testing; standard aerobic blood cultures and malaria film were also done, and hospital outcome was recorded. Early infant HIV diagnosis by HIV-1 RNA PCR was performed on those aged <18 months. HIV-infected patients also received serum cryptococcal antigen testing and had their CD4-positive T-lymphocyte count and percent determined. RESULTS: A total of 467 patients were enrolled whose median age was 2 years (range 2 months-13 years); Of those patients, 57.2% were female and 12.2% were HIV-infected. Admission clinical diagnosis of HIV disease was made in 10.7% and of malaria in 60.4%. Of blood cultures, 5.8% grew pathogens; of these 25.9% were Salmonella enterica (including 6 Salmonella Typhi) and 22.2%Streptococcus pneumoniae. Plasmodium falciparum was identified on blood film of 1.3%. HIV infection was associated with S. pneumoniae (odds ratio 25.7, 95% CI 2.8, 234.0) bloodstream infection (BSI), but there was no evidence of an association with Escherichia coli or P. falciparum; Salmonella Typhi BSI occurred only among HIV-uninfected participants. The sensitivity and specificity of an admission clinical diagnosis of malaria were 100% and 40.3%; and for an admission diagnosis of bloodstream infection, they were 9.1% and 86.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of bloodstream infection among paediatric admissions in Tanzania and is closely associated with HIV infection. Malaria was over-diagnosed clinically, whereas invasive bacterial disease was underestimated. HIV and HIV co-infections contribute to a substantial proportion of paediatric febrile admissions, underscoring the value of routine HIV testing.
