Table 1

Characteristics of the patients admitted with suspected bacteraemia.

Characteristics
All (n = 871)
Bacteraemia (n = 93)
non-Bacteraemia (n = 574)
p value

Age




     2 mo–11 mo
200 (23.0)
24 (25.8)
110 (19.2)

     11 mo–23 mo
207 (23.8)
18 (19.4)
127 (22.1)

     2–5 years
166 (19.1)
23 (24.7)
112 (19.5)

     6–15 years
113 (13.0)
13 (14.0)
77 (13.4)

     >15 years
185 (21.2)
15 (16.1)
148 (25.8)
0.185
Male
475 (54.5)
59 (63.4)
312 (54.4)
0.102
Wet season admission
533 (61.2)
60 (64.5)
405 (70.6)
0.295
Duration of symptoms < 7 days (n = 849)
459 (54.1)
43 (47.8)
307 (55.1)
0.252
Weight for age z score <-2 (n = 693)
373 (53.8)
39 (51.3)
221 (51.0)
0.87
Temperature >= 38°C (n = 863)
364 (42.2)
48 (51.6)
229 (40.3)
0.041
Tachycardia (n = 738)
253 (34.2)
38 (46.9)
182 (37.3)
0.141
Raised respiratory rate (n = 677)
347 (51.3)
51 (62.2)
247 (55.2)
0.297
White Blood Cell Count (n = 852)




     >= 10 × 109/L
484 (56.8)
64 (70.3)
306 (54.6)
0.005
     >= 15 × 109/L
290 (34.0)
45 (49.5)
173 (30.8)
<0.0001
Haemoglobin < 8 g/L (n = 602)
192 (32.0)
30 (41.1)
121 (31.8)
0.121
Sickle cell test positive (n = 243)a
57 (6.5)
8 (8.6)
13 (2.2)
0.144
Died in hospital
49 (5.5)
8 (8.3)
25 (4.3)
0.081
Specific Clinical Diagnoses




     Pneumonia
332 (38.1)
40 (43.0)
207 (36.1)
0.198
     Malaria (n = 676 tested)a
101 (11.6)
10 (10.8)
65 (11.3)
0.82
     Severe Malnutrition
68 (7.8)
8 (8.6)
50 (8.7)
0.975
     Tuberculosis
34 (3.9)
1 (1.1)
29 (5.1)
0.086
     HIV/AIDS (n = 119 tested)a
36(4.1)
6 (6.4)
25 (4.4)
0.397
     Gastroenteritis
36 (4.1)
1 (1.1)
24 (4.2)
0.145
     Urinary tract infection
25 (2.9)
2 (2.2)
19 (3.3)
0.573
     Nephrotic/Nephritic syndrome
23 (2.6)
1 (1.1)
17 (3.0)
0.297
     Skin/soft tissue infection
20 (2.3)
3 (3.2)
15 (2.6)
0.74
     Meningitis
13 (1.5)
1 (1.1)
9 (1.6)
0.716
     Upper respiratory tract infection
12 (1.4)
0
9 (1.6)
0.252
     Hepatititis
12 (1.4)
0
10 (1.7)
0.235
     Bone/Joint infection
9 (1.0)
0
6 (1.0)
0.387

a For sickle cell, malaria and HIV tests, because the investigations were driven by clinical suspicion, the denominator for the % calculations remained the total number in each category.

Hill et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2007 7:2   doi:10.1186/1471-2334-7-2