THURSDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Sickle-cell anemia is
more than 25 times more common in Kenyan children with bacterial
infections, and immunization may prevent death since the
bacterial species are the same as those in developed countries,
according to a study published online Sept. 10 in The Lancet.
Thomas N. Williams, Ph.D., from the Centre for Geographic
Medicine Research-Coast in Kilifi, Kenya, and colleagues
retrospectively examined the prevalence of sickle-cell anemia in
1,749 Kenyan children hospitalized for bacteremia and in 13,492
Kenyan children from the general population. The researchers
found that 6 percent of children with bacteremia had sickle-cell
anemia compared with only 1 percent of children from the general
population. Children with bacteremia and sickle-cell anemia were
most commonly infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae (41
percent), non-typhi Salmonella species (18 percent), and
Haemophilus influenzae type b (12 percent). Children with
bacteremia were much more likely to have si