Pediatric Hematology Oncology Journal · Published 2026-06-19 · DOI 10.1016/j.phoj.2026.100843
R. Oladehin Tolulope, E. Akindolire Abimbola, O. Faneye Adedayo, J. Brown Biobele
Background: Infections in children with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) are a major cause of mortality because bacteraemia can rapidly progress from benign to life-threatening conditions as a result of increased susceptibility to infections by encapsulated organisms, especially invasive pneumococcal infection. These fastidious organisms are commonly isolated in high income countries but very rarely isolated in low-middle income countries (LMIC). This suggests that the organisms causing bacteraemia in LMIC may be different, and the effectiveness of infection prevention measures such as pneumococcal vaccine and prophylactic penicillin should be interpreted in that light. This study set out to identify organisms causing bacteraemia in febrile children with sickle cell disease using molecular methods. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study and subjects were recruited consecutively until the sample size was attained. Sociodemographic data, medical history and physical examination findings were collected and entered onto a structured proforma. Blood samples were taken and tested for bacteria 16SRNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the sequence was identified using NCBI BLAST search. Data were analysed using IBM™ SPSS for Statistics version 26.0. Results: There were 123 febrile episodes in 112 participants, 65 (58.0%) males and 47 (42.0%) females, aged between 0.8 and 16.99 years with a mean (SD) age of 7.8 ± 4.5 years. The incidence of bacteraemia was 75.6% using PCR, Streptococcus pneumoniae n=28 (30.1%), Haemophilus influenzae n=26 (28.0%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae n=13 (14.0%). Conclusion: The incidence of bacteraemia in febrile episodes in SCD detected on PCR is high and majority of the isolates detected were Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. This underscores the importance of strengthening preventive measures in low- and middle-income countries. Further large scale studies are needed to validate these findings.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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Tolulope, R., Abimbola, E., Adedayo, O., et al. (2026). Bacterial isolates in febrile children with sickle cell disease using molecular methods in sub-Saharan Africa – a single center study. Pediatric Hematology Oncology Journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phoj.2026.100843