Table 1. Characteristics of children with serious bacterial infection (SBI) and those with no bacterial infection (NBI) detected> Numeric value are median and interquartile range (IQR).

	SBI (n = 280)	NBI (n = 97)	p value
Age (years)	2.0	2.5	0.77
median(IQR)	(0.6–6.9)	(1.0–5.7)
Males	154 (55%)	61 (63%)	0.18
Duration of symptoms (days) median(IQR)	3 (2–5)	3 (2 – 5)	0.76
Previous antibiotics (%)	123 (44%)	37 (38%)	0.32
Meningitis	235 (84%)	47 (49%)	<0.0005
Mortality (%)	68 (24%)	15 (15%)	0.07
HIV-infected (%)	145 (52%)	45 (47%)	0.41
Height for age Z score <−3 (severe stunting) (%)	42/272 (15%)	16/91 (18%)	0.63
Weight for height Z score <−3 (severe wasting) (%)	37/218 (17%)	11/82 (13%)	0.45
White cell count (WCC)×109/l	12.6	13.8	0.09
median(IQR)	(7.8–20.0)	(10.0–20.4)
Neutrophil count×109/l	10.6	8.9	0.78
median(IQR)	(4.6–16.3)	(5.5–15.5)