Background: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a tick-borne zoonotic disease that may be severe and is present in many African countries. We aimed to understand the seroprevalence and risk for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in Tanzania by testing archived serum samples from patients enrolled in a prospective cohort study.
Methods: We prospectively enrolled febrile inpatients and outpatients from 2012 through 2014 at two referral hospitals in northern Tanzania.
Acute Q fever diagnosis via paired serology is problematic because it requires follow-up for convalescent sample collection; as such, it cannot provide a diagnosis to inform a treatment decision at the time of acute presentation. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may be a useful approach for the diagnosis of acute Q fever in endemic settings. Among febrile patients enrolled in a sentinel surveillance study for Q fever at two referral hospitals in Moshi, Tanzania, from 2012 to 2014, we analyzed those with paired sera for IgG to Coxiella burnetii (C.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acute febrile illness is a common reason for seeking healthcare in low- and middle-income countries. We describe the diagnostic utility of a TaqMan Array Card (TAC) real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panel for pathogen detection in paediatric and adult inpatients admitted with febrile illness.
Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we screened medical admissions for a tympanic temperature ≥38.
Background: A peri-urban outbreak of Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) among dairy cattle from May through August 2018 in northern Tanzania was detected through testing samples from prospective livestock abortion surveillance. We sought to identify concurrent human infections, their phylogeny, and epidemiologic characteristics in a cohort of febrile patients enrolled from 2016-2019 at hospitals serving the epizootic area.
Methods: From September 2016 through May 2019, we conducted a prospective cohort study that enrolled febrile patients hospitalized at two hospitals in Moshi, Tanzania.
Background: The prevalence of multimorbidity (the presence of two or more chronic health conditions) is rapidly increasing in sub-Saharan Africa. Hospital care pathways that focus on single presenting complaints do not address this pressing problem. This has the potential to precipitate frequent hospital readmissions, increase health system and out-of-pocket expenses, and may lead to premature disability and death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacterial zoonoses are established causes of severe febrile illness in East Africa. Within a fever etiology study, we applied a high-throughput 16S rRNA metagenomic assay validated for detecting bacterial zoonotic pathogens. We enrolled febrile patients admitted to 2 referral hospitals in Moshi, Tanzania, during September 2007-April 2009.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Leptospira, the spirochaete causing leptospirosis, can be classified into >250 antigenically distinct serovars. Although knowledge of the animal host species and geographic distribution of Leptospira serovars is critical to understand the human and animal epidemiology of leptospirosis, current data are fragmented. We aimed to systematically review, the literature on animal host species and geographic distribution of Leptospira serovars to examine associations between serovars with animal host species and regions and to identify geographic regions in need of study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobiol Resour Announc
February 2024
causes infections in humans and livestock. Bacterial isolates are challenging to obtain, and very little is known about the genomic epidemiology of this species in Africa. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of a isolate cultured from a febrile human in northern Tanzania.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Leptospirosis is suspected to be a major cause of illness in rural Tanzania associated with close contact with livestock. We sought to determine leptospirosis prevalence, identify infecting Leptospira serogroups, and investigate risk factors for leptospirosis in a rural area of Tanzania where pastoralist animal husbandry practices and sustained livestock contact are common.
Methods: We enrolled participants at Endulen Hospital, Tanzania.
Diagnostic limitations challenge management of clinically indistinguishable acute infectious illness globally. Gene expression classification models show great promise distinguishing causes of fever. We generated transcriptional data for a 294-participant (USA, Sri Lanka) discovery cohort with adjudicated viral or bacterial infections of diverse etiology or non-infectious disease mimics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: , the spirochaete causing leptospirosis, can be classified into >250 antigenically distinct serovars. Although knowledge of the animal host species and geographic distribution of serovars is critical to understand the human and animal epidemiology of leptospirosis, currently data are fragmented. We aimed to systematically review the literature on animal host species and geographic distribution of serovars to examine associations between serovars with animal host species and regions, and to identify geographic regions in need of study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We describe antibacterial use in light of microbiology data and treatment guidelines for common febrile syndromes in Moshi, Tanzania.
Methods: We compared data from 2 hospital-based prospective cohort studies, cohort 1 (2011-2014) and cohort 2 (2016-2019), that enrolled febrile children and adults. A study team member administered a standardized questionnaire, performed a physical examination, and collected blood cultures.
Globally, half of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are diagnosed clinically without bacteriologic confirmation. In clinically diagnosed PTB patients, we assessed both the proportion in whom PTB could be bacteriologically confirmed by reference standard diagnostic tests and the prevalence of diseases that mimic PTB. We recruited adult patients beginning treatment of bacteriologically unconfirmed PTB in Moshi, Tanzania, in 2019.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe health effects of dairy products are still a matter of scientific debate owing to inconsistent findings across trials. Therefore, this systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) aimed to compare the effects of different dairy products on markers of cardiometabolic health. A systematic search was conducted in 3 electronic databases [MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and Web of Science; search date: 23 September 2022].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFhas a wide host range causing TB in animals, both in wildlife and cattle (bovine TB bTB), and in humans (zoonotic TB zTB). The real burden of bovine and zoonotic TB (b/zTB) remains unknown due to diagnostic challenges. Although progress has been made to reduce the burden of TB, b/zTB has been neglected in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with little improvement in prevention, diagnosis or treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrans R Soc Trop Med Hyg
November 2022
Background: Human and animal cases of Rift Valley fever (RVF) are typically only reported during large outbreaks. The occurrence of RVF cases that go undetected by national surveillance systems in the period between these outbreaks is considered likely. The last reported cases of RVF in Tanzania occurred during a large outbreak in 2007-2008.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGrowing evidence suggests considerable variation in endemic typhoid fever incidence at some locations over time, yet few settings have multi-year incidence estimates to inform typhoid control measures. We sought to describe a decade of typhoid fever incidence in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. Cases of blood culture confirmed typhoid were identified among febrile patients at two sentinel hospitals during three study periods: 2007-08, 2011-14, and 2016-18.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acute febrile illness is a common presentation for patients at hospitals globally. Assays that can diagnose a variety of common pathogens in blood could help to establish a diagnosis for targeted disease management. We aimed to evaluate the performance of the BioFire Global Fever Panel (GF Panel), a multiplex nucleic acid amplification test performed on whole blood specimens run on the BioFire FilmArray System, in the diagnosis of several pathogens that cause acute febrile illness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Numerous tuberculosis (TB) deaths remain undetected in low-resource endemic settings. With autopsy-confirmed tuberculosis as our standard, we assessed the diagnostic performance of Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra (Ultra; Cepheid) on nasopharyngeal specimens collected postmortem.
Methods: From October 2016 through May 2019, we enrolled pediatric and adult medical deaths to a prospective autopsy study at two referral hospitals in northern Tanzania with next-of-kin authorization.
Background: Evidence-based antiemetic guidelines offer predominantly consistent recommendations for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) prophylaxis. However, studies suggest that adherence to these recommendations is suboptimal. We explored inconsistencies between clinical practice and guideline-recommended treatment with a registry evaluating the effect of guideline-consistent CINV prophylaxis (GCCP) on patient outcomes.
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