Acute undifferentiated fever in Binh Thuan province, Vietnam: imprecise clinical diagnosis and irrational pharmaco‐therapy

Summary Objectives To describe the characteristics of patients consulting commune primary healthcare posts for acute undifferentiated fever not being malaria (AUF), and to explore the diagnostic and therapeutic responses of the healthcare workers. Methods All patients presenting with AUF at 12 commune health posts and one clinic at the provincial malaria station, Binh Thuan, a dengue endemic province in southern Vietnam, were included. Record forms were used to fill in patient and diseases characteristics, pre‐referral treatment, signs and symptoms, provisional diagnosis and installed treatment, referral and final outcome. Results Two thousand ninety‐six patients were included from April 2001 to March 2002. The median delay to attend the health posts was, 0.87 day for >5, 1.15 days for children aged 5–15 years and 1.41 days for adults (P