Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural Tanzania
Abstract Acute febrile illness (AFI) investigations are crucial for public health. They can provide data on disease prevalence, morbidity, and mortality, and improve treatment, management, control, and detection of outbreaks in areas with limited diagnostic tests. Current understanding of multiple c...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96190-5 |
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| author | Athanasia Maro AbdulHamid S. Lukambagire Blandina T. Mmbaga Jie Liu Sixbert I. Mkumbaye Nelson Amani Judith Njau Reginald A. Kavishe Jean Gratz Eric R. Houpt Jo E. B. Halliday |
| author_facet | Athanasia Maro AbdulHamid S. Lukambagire Blandina T. Mmbaga Jie Liu Sixbert I. Mkumbaye Nelson Amani Judith Njau Reginald A. Kavishe Jean Gratz Eric R. Houpt Jo E. B. Halliday |
| author_sort | Athanasia Maro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Acute febrile illness (AFI) investigations are crucial for public health. They can provide data on disease prevalence, morbidity, and mortality, and improve treatment, management, control, and detection of outbreaks in areas with limited diagnostic tests. Current understanding of multiple causes of AFI in the paediatric population in Tanzania is limited. This study aimed to simultaneously detect 33 pathogens using TaqMan Array Card based real-time PCR. Whole blood samples were collected from a total of 247 children (2–59 months old) who presented with febrile illness at Dareda and Haydom hospitals in north-eastern Tanzania between November 2015 and March 2016. Overall, 50 (20.2%) and 8 (3.2%) of 247 children had at least one and more than one pathogen detected respectively. Bacterial zoonoses were frequently detected including Brucella spp. (n = 18, 7.3%), C. burnetii (n = 4, 1.6%), Bartonella spp. (n = 3, 1.2%), Rickettsia spp. (n = 3, 1.2%) and Leptospira spp. (n = 1, 0.4%). Dengue virus was detected in 14 (5.7%) individuals and Plasmodium spp. in 12 (4.9%) individuals. These findings reveal the potential clinical importance of zoonoses and arboviruses in febrile children in Tanzania and highlight the need to consider a broad range of pathogens in febrile illness diagnosis. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0f83d2a7dedf4ba59f1817291e2692d3 |
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| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
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| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-0f83d2a7dedf4ba59f1817291e2692d32025-08-20T01:54:29ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-011511810.1038/s41598-025-96190-5Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural TanzaniaAthanasia Maro0AbdulHamid S. Lukambagire1Blandina T. Mmbaga2Jie Liu3Sixbert I. Mkumbaye4Nelson Amani5Judith Njau6Reginald A. Kavishe7Jean Gratz8Eric R. Houpt9Jo E. B. Halliday10KCMC UniversityKilimanjaro Clinical Research InstituteKCMC UniversitySchool of Public Health, Qingdao UniversityKCMC UniversityKilimanjaro Clinical Research InstituteKilimanjaro Clinical Research InstituteKCMC UniversityDivision of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of VirginiaDivision of Infectious Diseases and International Health, University of VirginiaSchool of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of GlasgowAbstract Acute febrile illness (AFI) investigations are crucial for public health. They can provide data on disease prevalence, morbidity, and mortality, and improve treatment, management, control, and detection of outbreaks in areas with limited diagnostic tests. Current understanding of multiple causes of AFI in the paediatric population in Tanzania is limited. This study aimed to simultaneously detect 33 pathogens using TaqMan Array Card based real-time PCR. Whole blood samples were collected from a total of 247 children (2–59 months old) who presented with febrile illness at Dareda and Haydom hospitals in north-eastern Tanzania between November 2015 and March 2016. Overall, 50 (20.2%) and 8 (3.2%) of 247 children had at least one and more than one pathogen detected respectively. Bacterial zoonoses were frequently detected including Brucella spp. (n = 18, 7.3%), C. burnetii (n = 4, 1.6%), Bartonella spp. (n = 3, 1.2%), Rickettsia spp. (n = 3, 1.2%) and Leptospira spp. (n = 1, 0.4%). Dengue virus was detected in 14 (5.7%) individuals and Plasmodium spp. in 12 (4.9%) individuals. These findings reveal the potential clinical importance of zoonoses and arboviruses in febrile children in Tanzania and highlight the need to consider a broad range of pathogens in febrile illness diagnosis.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96190-5Acute febrile illnessTaqMan array cardNon-malaria feverReal-time PCRTanzaniaZoonoses |
| spellingShingle | Athanasia Maro AbdulHamid S. Lukambagire Blandina T. Mmbaga Jie Liu Sixbert I. Mkumbaye Nelson Amani Judith Njau Reginald A. Kavishe Jean Gratz Eric R. Houpt Jo E. B. Halliday Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural Tanzania Scientific Reports Acute febrile illness TaqMan array card Non-malaria fever Real-time PCR Tanzania Zoonoses |
| title | Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural Tanzania |
| title_full | Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural Tanzania |
| title_fullStr | Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural Tanzania |
| title_full_unstemmed | Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural Tanzania |
| title_short | Detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural Tanzania |
| title_sort | detection of pathogens associated with acute febrile illness in children under five years of age in rural tanzania |
| topic | Acute febrile illness TaqMan array card Non-malaria fever Real-time PCR Tanzania Zoonoses |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96190-5 |
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