Assessment of surveillance predictors for suspected respiratory syncytial virus, influenza and infections in children aged <5 years in Madagascar.

Background: The lack of rapid, sensitive and affordable diagnostic tests that can distinguish a wide variety of respiratory pathogens at the point of care is an obstacle to the rapid implementation of control measures following events and epidemics. In addition, the absence of a standardized case definition to differentiate putative aetiologies is a challenge to assessing the burden of disease. This study aimed to identify the clinical spectrum of respiratory pathogens commonly associated with respiratory tract infections in the context of disease surveillance.

Corynebacterium diphtheriae Infection in Mahajanga, Madagascar: First Case Report.

Diphtheria is an infection that has been unreported for more than two decades in Mahajanga. A child, aged 4, presented with a pseudomembranous pharyngitis was associated with a dysphagia. He was from a rural municipality of Ambato Boeny at Mahajanga province and was admitted to the Pediatric Unit of the University Hospital Center.

Epidemiology of severe acute respiratory infections from hospital-based surveillance in Madagascar, November 2010 to July 2013.

Background: Few comprehensive data exist regarding the epidemiology of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in low income countries. This study aimed at identifying etiologies and describing clinical features of SARI-associated hospitalization in Madagascar.

Methods: It is a prospective surveillance of SARI in 2 hospitals for 3 years.

Outcome risk factors during respiratory infections in a paediatric ward in Antananarivo, Madagascar 2010-2012.

Background: Acute respiratory infections are a leading cause of infectious disease-related morbidity, hospitalisation and mortality among children worldwide, and particularly in developing countries. In these low-income countries, most patients with acute respiratory infection (ARI), whether it is mild or severe, are still treated empirically. The aim of the study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with the evolution and outcome of respiratory illnesses in patients aged under 5 years old.