ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2019
Global knowledge gaps in acute febrile illness etiologic investigations: A scoping review.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Etiologies of community-acquired febrile illness identified by TaqMan Array Card qPCR on blood samples: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2026Pooled it
- Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole Versus Azithromycin for the Treatment of Undifferentiated Febrile Illness in Nepal: A Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Trial.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2021Trial
- Age-Related and Seasonal Variation in Malaria and Other Causes of Fever and Their Association With Clinical Outcomes in Southern Angola: A Hospital-Based Study.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2026Article
- Measles Without Rash During Acute Febrile Illness Surveillance in Tanzania, 2023-2024.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2026Article
- Temporal cytokine profiling of acute dengue, Zika, Chikungunya, and Mayaro virus infections in Northern Peru.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Clinical metagenomics for diagnosis and surveillance of viral pathogens.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2026Review
- A Pathogen Selection Tool for Surveillance of Acute Febrile Illness in Nigeria.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025Article
- Descriptive Epidemiology of Acute Febrile Illness Patients in Nigeria: Pathogens of Global Public Health Significance Detected Using a Multi-Pathogen Detection Tool.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2025Article
- TaqMan Array Card real-time polymerase chain reaction panel to detect pathogens in whole blood of febrile inpatients in northern Tanzania, 2016-2019.Tropical medicine & international health : TM & IH · 2025Article
- Article
- Epstein-Barr Virus in the RIVERA Case-Control Study of Acute Febrile Illness: Acute Mononucleosis Nearly Absent as an Etiology in the Peruvian Amazon.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2025Article
- Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of influenza and SARS-CoV-2 virus among patients with acute febrile illness in selected sites of Ethiopia 2021-2022.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Multicountry surveillance study of acute febrile disease of unknown cause in sub-Saharan Africa.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Antibiotic prescribing patterns at outpatient clinics in Western and Coastal Kenya.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- A clinicoepidemiological study of serologically diagnosed acute febrile illness in a teaching hospital, Kolkata.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2024Article
- Demographic and Clinical Factors Associated with Bacterial or Nonbacterial Etiologies of Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness: Findings from a 3-Year Observational Study in Thailand, 2017-2020.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Observational
- Next-generation sequencing survey of acute febrile illness in Senegal (2020-2022).Frontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- A toolkit for planning and implementing acute febrile illness (AFI) surveillance.PLOS global public health · 2024Article
- Acute febrile illness in Kenya: Clinical characteristics and pathogens detected among patients hospitalized with fever, 2017-2019.PloS one · 2024Article
- Coinfection of Malaria and Bacterial Pathogens among Acute Febrile Patients in Selected Clinics in Ghana.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcute febrile illness (AFI), a common reason for people seeking medical care globally, represents a spectrum of infectious disease etiologies with important variations geographically and by population. There is no standardized approach to conducting AFI etiologic investigations, limiting interpretation of data in a global context. We conducted a scoping review to characterize current AFI research methodologies, identify global research gaps, and provide methodological research standardization recommendations. METHODOLOGY/
findingsUsing pre-defined terms, we searched Medline, Embase, and Global Health, for publications from January 1, 2005-December 31, 2017. Publications cited in previously published systematic reviews and an online study repository of non-malarial febrile illness etiologies were also included. We screened abstracts for publications reporting on human infectious disease, aimed at determining AFI etiology using laboratory diagnostics. One-hundred ninety publications underwent full-text review, using a standardized tool to collect data on study characteristics, methodology, and laboratory diagnostics. AFI case definitions between publications varied: use of self-reported fever as part of case definitions (28%, 53/190), fever cut-off value (38·0°C most commonly used: 45%, 85/190), and fever measurement site (axillary most commonly used: 19%, 36/190). Eighty-nine publications (47%) did not include exclusion criteria, and inclusion criteria in 13% (24/190) of publications did not include age group. No publications included study settings in Southern Africa, Micronesia & Polynesia, or Central Asia. We summarized standardized reporting practices, specific to AFI etiologic investigations that would increase inter-study comparability.
conclusionsWider implementation of standardized AFI reporting methods, with multi-pathogen disease detection, could improve comparability of study findings, knowledge of the range of AFI etiologies, and their contributions to the global AFI burden. These steps can guide resource allocation, strengthen outbreak detection and response, target prevention efforts, and improve clinical care, especially in resource-limited settings where disease control often relies on empiric treatment. PROSPERO: CRD42016035666.
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