Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a common cause of bloodstream infections among HIV-infected adults in sub-Saharan Africa, and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. We found no cases of mycobacteremia among 93 ill, HIV-infected children in northern Tanzania, despite optimization of laboratory methods and selection of patients thought to be at highest risk for disseminated infection.

Objective As the proportion of children living low malaria transmission areas in sub-Saharan Africa increases, approaches for identifying non-malarial severe illness need to be evaluated to improve child outcomes. Design As a prospective cohort study, we identified febrile paediatric inpatients, recorded data using Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) criteria, and collected diagnostic specimens. Setting Tertiary referral centre, northern Tanzania. Results Of 466 participants with known outcome, median age was 1.4 years (range 2 months–13.0 years), 200 (42.9%) were female, 11 (2.4%) had malaria and 34 (7.3%) died. Inpatient death was associated with: Capillary refill >3 s (OR 9.0, 95% CI 3.0 to 26.7), inability to breastfeed or drink (OR 8.9, 95% CI 4.0 to 19.6), stiff neck (OR 7.0, 95% CI 2.8 to 17.6), lethargy (OR 5.2, 95% CI 2.5 to 10.6), skin pinch >2 s (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.9 to 12.3), respiratory difficulty (OR 4.0, 95% CI 1.9 to 8.2), generalised lymphadenopathy (OR 3.6, 95% CI 1.6 to 8.3) and oral candidiasis (OR 3.4, 95% CI 1.4 to 8.3). BCS <5 (OR 27.2, p<0.001) and severe wasting (OR 6.9, p<0.001) were independently associated with inpatient death. Conclusions In a low malaria transmission setting, IMCI criteria performed well for predicting inpatient death from non-malarial illness. Laboratory results were not as useful in predicting death, underscoring the importance of clinical examination in assessing prognosis. Healthcare workers should consider local malaria epidemiology as malaria over-diagnosis in children may delay potentially life-saving interventions in areas where malaria is uncommon.

Patients admitted with pneumonia are at higher risk for HIV and should be routinely screened. We examined a retrospective cohort of patients admitted to Duke University Health System with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia. During the study period, 6,951 persons were admitted with pneumonia. Of 6,646 patients without a known prior diagnosis of HIV, 1,010 (15%) had HIV testing during admission and 1,516 (23%) had a previously documented HIV test result. 41 (0.6%) patients had a positive HIV test during admission and 27 (0.4%) patients were diagnosed with HIV a median of 498 (IQR 112–982) days later, with median CD4 count of 64 (IQR 16–281) cells/mm3. HIV testing rates remain low in a population at high risk for HIV. At a minimum, we should be adhering to universal HIV screening recommendations, and certainly we should be screening those at higher risk. Opt-out HIV testing of pneumonia inpatients should be implemented.

Background: As opioid-related hospitalizations rise, hospitals must be prepared to evaluate and treat patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). We implemented a hospitalist-led program, Project Caring for patients with Opioid Misuse through Evidence-based Treatment (COMET) to address gaps in care for hospitalized patients with OUD.

There is a paucity of data on the impact of mobile technology on physician-led education in the pediatric population. We performed a prospective pilot study in a pediatric diabetes clinic to evaluate the impact of tablet-based patient education. A total of 106 patients and caregivers completed postclinic surveys, 64 (60%) in the intervention group and 42 (40%) in the control group. The majority of the intervention group patients (86%) liked tablet use and felt it was better or similar (99%) to baseline. Moreover, a majority receiving tablet-based education perceived an increase in diabetes knowledge (57%) compared with baseline (39%), though the difference did not reach statistical significance ( P = .059). Those who received tablet-based education felt they were educated on more diabetes-related topics. As the use of mobile technology in medicine grows, additional research is needed to compare mobile technology with traditional methods in providing education to the pediatric population.