Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31272417›Full record

SynthesisBMC infectious diseases2019

Diversity of infectious aetiologies of acute undifferentiated febrile illnesses in south and Southeast Asia: a systematic review.

Kinley Wangdi, Kaushalya Kasturiaratchi, Susana Vaz Nery, Colleen L Lau, Darren J Gray, Archie C A Clements

Open access · goldAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC infectious diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
55citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
5.6field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

55 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 88 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Causes of fever in primary care in Southeast Asia and the performance of C-reactive protein in discriminating bacterial from viral pathogens.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2020
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  15. Epidemiological Changes in Acute Febrile Diseases after the COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Kinley WangdiDepartment of Global Health, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Action, ACT, Canberra, Australia. kinley.wangdi@anu.edu.au.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8857-2665
Kaushalya KasturiaratchiMinistry of Health, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Susana Vaz NeryDepartment of Global Health, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Action, ACT, Canberra, Australia.
Colleen L LauDepartment of Global Health, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Action, ACT, Canberra, Australia.
Darren J GrayDepartment of Global Health, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Action, ACT, Canberra, Australia.
Archie C A ClementsDepartment of Global Health, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University, Action, ACT, Canberra, Australia.
Australian National University · AUMinistry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine · LK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAcute undifferentiated febrile illness (AUFI) is caused by a multitude of diverse pathogens, with significant morbidity and mortality in the developing world. The objective of this review was to characterise the diversity and relative importance of common infectious aetiologies of AUFI in South and Southeast Asia.

methodsWe conducted a comprehensive literature review to identify common aetiologies of AUFI in Asian countries. Four medical and life sciences databases including PubMed, Medline, Embase and Cochrane Central, and Google Scholar were searched for articles published from January 1998 to March 2019.

resultsForty-three studies met the inclusion criteria. Among AUFI cases, viral aetiologies at 18.5% (14888) were more common than bacterial aetiologies (12.9% [10384]). From 80,554 cases, dengue fever was the most common aetiology (11.8%, 9511), followed by leptospirosis (4.4%, 3549), typhoid (4.0%, 3258), scrub typhus (4.0%, 3243) and influenza other than H1N1 (3.1%, 2514). In both adults and children: dengue fever was the leading cause of AUFI with 16.6% (1928) and 18.7% (1281) of the total cases. In admitted patients, dengue fever was the main cause of AUFI at 16.4% (2377), however leptospirosis at 13.9% (2090) was the main cause of AUFI for outpatients. In South Asia, dengue fever was the main cause of AUFI, causing 12.0% (6821) of cases, whereas in Southeast Asia, leptospirosis was the main diagnosis, causing 12.1% (2861) of cases.

conclusionsIn this study the most common causes of AUFI were viral, followed by bacterial and protozoal (malaria) infections. Dengue was the commonest virus that caused AUFI while leptospirosis and typhoid were important bacterial infectious causes. Therefore, it is imperative to maintain a sound epidemiological knowledge of AUFI so that evidence-based diagnostic criteria and treatment guidelines can be developed.

Indexed as

AsiaAsia, SoutheasternCommunicable DiseasesFeverHospitalizationHumansOutpatientsAcute undifferentiated febrile illnessAsiaInfection

Identifiers

PMID31272417
PMCPMC6610835
OpenAlexW2954520119

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.