TY - JOUR T1 - Etiology and outcome of febrile children coming from the tropics JO - Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiología Clínica (English Edition) T2 - AU - Torres-Fernandez,David AU - Prieto Tato,Luis Manuel AU - Perez-Ayala,Ana AU - Moraleda,Cinta AU - Fernandez Cooke,Elisa AU - Blazquez-Gamero,Daniel AU - Rojo,Pablo AU - Perez Rivilla,Alfredo AU - Epalza,Cristina SN - 2529993X M3 - 10.1016/j.eimce.2020.08.008 DO - 10.1016/j.eimce.2020.08.008 UR - https://www.elsevier.es/en-revista-enfermedades-infecciosas-microbiologia-clinica-english-428-articulo-etiology-outcome-febrile-children-coming-S2529993X21002227 AB - IntroductionInternational travelers have grown significantly over last years, as well as imported diseases from tropical areas. Information in pediatric population is scarce. We describe demographic and clinical characteristics of febrile children coming from the tropics. MethodsRetrospective review of patients under 18 years old, presenting at a tertiary hospital and surrounding primary health care centers between July 2002 and July 2018 with a stay in a tropical region during the previous year. Patients were selected from microbiological charts of thick smears for malaria or dengue serologies. Results188 patients were studied: 52.7% were born in Spain with a median age of 3.0 years old (IQR 1.5–8.0). Main regions of stay were Sub-Saharan Africa (54.8%) and Latin America (29.8%), mostly for visiting their friends and relatives (56.3%), followed by recent arrival migrants (32.4%). Only 34% of travelers attended pre-travel consultation. More than 80% of these febrile children attended directly the Emergency Room. The most frequent diagnoses were febrile syndrome without source (56.4%), respiratory condition (15.4%) and acute diarrhea (11.7%). Around a half (52.1%) were managed as outpatients, but 46.2% were hospitalized and 7.4% were admitted to Intensive Care Unit. No specific diagnosis was achieved in 24% of cases. However, 29.7% were diagnosed with malaria. ConclusionChildren with fever coming from tropical areas were at risk of severe infectious diseases. Malaria was diagnosed in one out of four and 7% required admission in PICU. This information emphasizes the need of reinforcing training about tropical diseases among first line physicians. ER -