Procalcitonin as a Biomarker for a Bacterial Infection on Hospital Admission: A Critical Appraisal in a Cohort of Travellers with Fever after a Stay in (Sub)tropics

Table 1

General and laboratory characteristics of the travellers with fever on admission, specified by outcome and class of causative micro-organism. Data are given as median [range].

	Infection proven (𝑛=64)			Infection likely (𝑛=88)	No infection (𝑛=5)
	Viral infection (𝑛=16)	Bacterial infection (𝑛=46)	Parasitic infection (𝑛=2)
Age (year)	27[17-50]	30[15-68]	30[17-43]	40[14-73]	40[10-53]
Male/female	8/8	24/22	1/1	57/31	1/4
Continent of acquisition (𝑛 [%])
Europe	1[6.3]	1[2.2]	0	4[4.5]	0
Americas	6[37.5]	9[19.6]	0	10[11.4]	1[20.0]
Africa	2[12.5]	10[21.7]	1[50.0]	31[35.2]	4[80.0]
Asia and Oceania	7[43.8]	26[56.5]	0	43[48.9]	0
Unknown	0	0	1[50.0]	0	0
Presenting symptoms (𝑛 [%])
History of fever	13[81.37]	45[97.8]	2[100]	84[95.5]	4[80.0]
Skin problems	5[31.3]	10[21.7]	0	12[13.6]	0
Diarrhea	7[43.8]	25[54.3]	2[100]	35[39.8]	2[40.0]
Shortness of breath	5[31.3]	14[30.4]	1[50.0]	31[35.2]	2[40.0]
Headache	10[62.5]	26[56.5]	1[50.0]	50[56.8]	3[60.0]
Muscle ache	6[37.5]	18[39.1]	1[50.0]	35[39.8]	1[20.0]
Malaise	4[25.0]	9[19.6]	0	32[36.4]	2[40.0]
Nausea/vomiting	6[37.5]	16[34.8]	1[50.0]	25[28.4]	0
Others	8[50.0]	7[15.2]	0	22[25.0]	2[40.0]
Duration of complaints (𝑛 [%])
<8 days	13[81.3]	34[73.9]	2[100]	71[80.7]	2[40.0]
8-14 days	2[12.5]	7[15.2]	0	9[10.2]	1[20.0]
15-28 days	0	2[12.5]	0	1[1.1]	1[20.0]
>29 days	1[6.3]	3[18.8]	0	7[8.0]	1[20.0]
Physical findings (median [range])
Temperature (^∘C)	39.1[38.5-40.9]	39.3[38.5-41.0]	39.2[38.6-39.8]	39.2[38.5-40.5]	38.7[38.5-39.9]
Pulse (beats/minute)	100[72-120]	104[72-125]	122[100-144]	93[65-160]	94[84-104]
Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)	120[95-160]	120[90-180]	133[130-136]	126[90-195]	115[96-130]
Laboratory findings
ESR (mm/h)	10[2-56]	23[3-114]	38	21[2-98]	28[8-58]
Leukocytes (×10^9/L)	6.0[1.9-14.2]	9.8[3.3-18.9]	7.7[4.4-11.0]	8.0[2.6-23.2]	5.8[3.3-7.4]
C-reactive protein (mg/mL)	13[4-106]	76[4-462]	102[100-104]	56[4-298]	9[4-125]