Fever surveillance
febrile, illness, fever
EVENTS, ENTERIC FEVER
To capture febrile events, all participants will be asked to call a 24/7 helpline number before they visit a healthcare facility for an illness. In case the illness is febrile, our helpline operators will raise a unique digital token that the fever surveillance team will use (via an online dashboard) to track the patient. If the patient visits a facility partnered with this study, the team will contact the patient and study personnel at the facility to ensure that appropriate investigations are conducted, including automated blood cultures (CMC Vellore’s Microbiology laboratory will conduct this if the facility is unable to do so), and collect details and the outcomes of illness. We will also cover the patient’s cost of care and transportation to and from the healthcare facility. In case the patient visits a non-partnered hospital, the team will contact the patient directly to collect details of their illness and outcomes. This approach is likely to encourage reporting of febrile episodes by the participants as previous surveys have found that most febrile illnesses are treated at private facilities and paid for out of pocket.Additionally, surveillance teams will be stationed at the major hospitals listed previously, to check for febrile in-patient (IP) cases at IP wards and emergency departments that may not have contacted the helpline or been missed by them. Further, their microbiology laboratory registers will be monitored for any enteric fever cases. At the end of each month, all participants will be contacted by the surveillance team to collect details about any illness episodes and remind them to contact the helpline prior to a healthcare facility visit.This surveillance will end 25 months after vaccination and mark the trial’s end.