| Methods |
Method of randomisation not described; unclear blinding status; only 30 out of 50 enrolled were analysed |
| Participants |
Age 16 to 30 years; both sexes; duration of illness before therapy less than 4 days; nearly two‐third comatosed in each group |
| Interventions |
Experimental arm: ceftriaxone (100 mg/kg/24 hrs i.m. to children i.v. to adults)
Control arm: ampicillin (160 mg/kg/day 6 hrly and chloramphenicol (100 mg/kg/day 6 hrly
Duration of therapy according to response |
| Outcomes |
Death; duration of fever |
| Notes |
Study conducted in Egypt |
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Insufficient information about the sequence generation process |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) |
Unclear risk |
Not reported |
| Blinding (performance bias and detection bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
The study did not address this |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias)
All outcomes |
Unclear risk |
Insufficient information |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) |
Unclear risk |
Insufficient information |
| Other bias |
Unclear risk |
Insufficient information |
