Animal contact and paediatric acute febrile illness in Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association between animal contact (primarily dogs and cats) and non-malarial fever, as well as with secondary symptoms of headache, nausea, vomiting, and cough, in 687 children in Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study of acute febrile illness among children aged 1-15 years old between October 2016 and August 2017.

SETTING

Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) Hospital, Teshie, Greater Accra Region.

PARTICIPANTS

The study included children with acute fever, defined as a measured temperature of greater than 37.5°C, occurring less than seven days before the hospital visit, and afebrile children as controls.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measured fever, self-reported fever, and secondary symptoms, each adjusting for patient household characteristics.

RESULTS

Animal contact was neither associated with measured fever (OR = 1.04, 95% CI 0.73-1.49) nor with self-reported fever (OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.68-1.39). Animal contact was associated with headache (OR = 3.26, 95% CI 2.23-4.77, P < .01) and nausea (OR = 3.05, 95% CI 1.99-4.68, P < .01), but not with vomiting or cough. Additional models that used alternate inclusion criteria to define non-malarial fever yielded similar results. Several bacterial zoonoses that could plausibly have been transmitted by dogs and cats were diagnosed in the study population.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest the need for future studies to evaluate animal contact as a risk factor for bacterial zoonoses that may serve as an etiological driver of acute febrile illness.

FUNDING: no external funding.