PREVALENCE OF ENTERIC FEVER IN CHILDREN AT LIVINGSTONE CENTRAL HOSPITAL IN LIVINGSTONE, ZAMBIA FROM JANUARY 2018 TO JANUARY 2020

27 PAGES (6418 WORDS) Applied Health Thesis

Enteric fever is caused by the human-adapted pathogens Salmonella enterica serotype typhi (S. Typhi) and S. enterica serotype paratyphi (S. paratyphi) A, B, and C, which are gram-negative non lactose fermenting flagellated bacteria that possess an O somatic antigen, and H flagella antigen-specific to S. typhi

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of enteric fever in children at Livingstone Central Hospital from January 2018 to January 2020.  

Data collection: Information was obtained using a data extraction tool from patient files and convenience sampling was utilized. The data was entered in excel and later exported to STATA version 15 for analysis. 

Results: Among the participants, 3.57% were found to have Typhoid fever and 85.71% of them where male (p value 0.034). All of the patients that were found to have Typhoid fever were admitted to the hospital (p value 0.002) and 71.43% of them had no documented risk factors that could have led to acquisition of Typhoid fever (p value