Infections and Major Sickle Cell Syndromes at the Ziguinchor Peace Hospital / Senegal

Background: Sickle cell disease is an inherited disorder of hemoglobin. It poses a public health problem in Senegal and mainly affects children and adolescents. Infections are the main cause of morbidity and mortality in children with sickle cell disease. The objective of our work was to assess infections associated with major sickle cell syndromes at the Ziguinchor Peace Hospital (ZPH).

Methods: This was a retrospective study, from October 1, 2015 to October 31, 2020. Included were sickle cell patients homozygous SS and heterozygous SC, hospitalized with fever ≥ 39°C, in whom an infectious assessment was performed. Excluded from the study were patients whose complete blood count, C-Reactive Protein, and rapid diagnostic test for malaria were not performed.

Results: During the study period, we collected 66 patient files (43 boys and 23 girls). The mean age was 7.6 years [8 months – 21 years]. The population consisted of SS sickle cell disease patients in 98.5% of cases. The average body temperature was 39.6°C [39 – 40.5°C]. The clinical picture on admission was predominantly vaso-occlusive crisis and anemia. The positivity of the bacteriological examinations was 2 cases for the blood culture, 3 cases for the urine culture. The infections were dominated by bronchopneumonia (31.8%); ear, nose and throat infections (31.8%) and osteoarthritis (15.2%). Four children presented with severe malaria and the immediate course was favorable for all patients.

Conclusion: otorhinolaryngological infections; Bronchopulmonary and osteoarticular diseases are frequent in children with sickle cell disease at the Ziguinchor peace hospital. we recommend support for the microbiology unit and systematic sampling in febrile sickle cell patients.