Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology
Volume 20, Issue 4 , Pages 627-640, August 2006

A child with a systemic febrile illness – differential diagnosis and management

  • Michaël Hofer, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Address: Service de Pédiatrie, CHUV, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 21 314 3324; Fax: +41 21 314 3558.

Paediatric Rheumatology, Centre Multisite Romand de Rhumatologie Pédiatrique, Department of Paediatrics, University Hospitals of Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland

Unité d'Immuno-hématologie pédiatriques, Hôpital Necker Enfants-Malades, Paris, France

Fever is a common symptom in children and may sometimes be prolonged or recurrent. There are many differential diagnoses, which may lead to significant diagnostic delay. Diagnosis is based on the clinical presentation as well as a widespread panel of investigations that are necessary in order to exclude the many potential causes of fever before reaching a definite diagnosis. In particular, the physician will look for infections and malignancies before considering the disease as inflammatory. This chapter reviews the differential diagnosis of prolonged or recurrent fever, and discusses most of the inflammatory syndromes presenting with fever.

Key words: fever, inflammation, child, auto-inflammatory diseases, diagnosis, treatment

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PII: S1521-6942(06)00042-8

doi:10.1016/j.berh.2006.04.001

Best Practice & Research Clinical Rheumatology
Volume 20, Issue 4 , Pages 627-640, August 2006

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