【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 t Omdurman Teaching Hospital, Sudan during October 2020. Patients including both adults and children above one year of age, presenting with or without fever to the emergency room during this period were evaluated for inclusion in the study. Patients were recruited by convenience sampling (based on a 2sided hypothesis tests using Epiinfo with 80% power and confidence interval of 95%) until 174 sets of simultaneous axilla and tympanic membrane temperature measurements were obtained. Those with otitis externa/media, soft tissue infection, severe illness, trauma patients, those who had had a cold or hot drink or who had smoked in the 20 minutes prior to examination, those wearing a hearing aid and those who were unwilling to be enrolled in the study were excluded. The study was approved by the ethical mittee at Omdurman Hospital, and written consent was obtained from all patients or from a guardian for children. 9 Instruments A Braun ThermoScan (IRT 4520, Braun GmbH, Kronberg, Germany), a device validated in a previous study [13], was used for the infrared measurement of tympanic membrane temperature. A nonselfadjusted mercury bulb thermometer was used to measure axillary temperature. All the mercury bulb thermometers were calibrated in a single water bath set at 38176。C. Only those thermometers with a deviation of less than 176。C were used for the study. All patients were examined otoscopically to exclude ear infection and occluding ear wax was cleared. The same procedure using the right ear right was used to measure the tympanic membrane temperature for each patient. Procedure A medical officer and three nurses received training on the proper use of all temperature measuring visual acuity in both eyes tested 6/6. Patients who fulfilled the study criteria had their axilla and tympanic membrane temperatures simultaneously measured at h. The probe of the infrared thermometer was inserted into the external auditory meatus by pulling the pinna backward, and directing the probe towards the eye. The probe was held in the same position until the beep was heard. The mercury bulb thermometer was shaken before 10 each recording to decrease its temperature reading to below 35176。C and then placed, for a minimum of 5 minutes, in the patient’s axilla. The same healthcare worker would read and document the digital reading from the tympanic membrane thermometer and the mercury bulb thermometer. Immediately, another member of the team would then read and document the mercury thermometer, blinded from the results of the original healthcare worker. Statistical analyses The results were analyzed using SPSS, version for Windows (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Linear correlations were made between tympanic and axillary temperatures. Differences between sets of data were plotted as described by BlandAltman [14]. Based on previously predefined clinically acceptable limits, agreement between tympanic and axillary measurement methods was accepted when the mean 177。 2 standard deviations was within 177。 176。C [15]. Result General characteristics Temperature was measured for 174 patients (67。 % were children 18 years), all of whom were medical cases. There were 95 (%) males, their mean age (SD) was () years (range 2–80 years) and mean weight (SD) was () kg. likewise for the females, the mean age (SD) was years (range 2–80) and the mean weight (SD) was () kg. Out of these 174 patients, 61 (%) patients were febrile (temperature176。C) according to both axillary and tympanic readings. Axillary body temperatu