Abstract Background Febrile illness is a common reason for hospital admission in sub-Saharan Africa, yet the illness etiology often remains unknown. To address these knowledge gaps, we conducted respiratory pathogen testing in a cohort of febrile inpatients in northern Tanzania. Methods We enrolled a prospective cohort of febrile pediatric and adult inpatients within 24 hours of admission to two hospitals in northern Tanzania. Naso-oropharyngeal (NP/OP) specimens were collected for detection of 19 pathogens by polymerase chain reaction. Participants were stratified by age 10 years and ≥10 years, and categorized in the following three groups: severe acute respiratory infection (SARI); non-SARI respiratory illness; no respiratory illness. Results Among 1,132 participants enrolled, 930 (82.1%) had NP/OP specimens tested. Median (interquartile range) age was 22.3 (2.1-44.0) years, 432 (46.5%) were female, and 378 (40.7%) had SARI. We observed 410 pathogen detections in 359 (38.6%) participants: 256 (67.2%) of 381 10 years and 103 (18.8%) of 549 ≥10 years. Of 301 pathogen detections among participants 10 years, the most common were rhinovirus/enterovirus (RV/EV; n=80, 26.6%), influenza (n=60, 19.9%) and adenovirus (n=45, 15.0%). Of 109 pathogen detections in participants ≥10 years, the most common were RV/EV (n=41, 37.6%), influenza (n=37, 33.9%), and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV; n=6, 5.5%). Among SARI, the most common pathogens were influenza (n=71, 18.8%), RV/EV (n=66, 17.5%), and RSV (n=37, 9.8%). Conclusions RV/EV, influenza and RSV were commonly detected among febrile inpatients in Tanzania, including among participants with SARI. These findings have implications for vaccine development and implementation in low- and middle-income countries.
Linster et al. (Tue,) studied this question.