Under-detection of blood culture-positive enteric fever cases: The impact of missing data and methods for adjusting incidence estimates

Abstract

Clinical opinion on the cause of the fever may play a large part in the decision to offer blood culture, regardless of study protocol. Crude typhoid incidence estimates should be adjusted for the proportion of cases that go undetected due to missing blood cultures while adjusting for the lower likelihood of culture-positivity in the group with missing data.