This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Press, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Press, S. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Association of Hyperpyrexia with Serious Disease in Children

University of Miami School of Medicine Miami, Florida

In a prospective study over 7 years, 105 consecutive pediatric patients with hyperpyrexia (temperature 41.1 °C [106°F]) were evaluated to determine the incidence, sensitive indicators, and types of illnesses encountered. The incidence of hyperpyrexia in a large urban pediatric emergency departmentwas 0.36 per 1,000 visits or approximately one in 2,759 visits. In patientswith temperature 41.1 °C, 65 (61.9%) had a serious illness. Pneumonia (33 lobar, three interstitial, two clinical) was the most common diagnosis (36.2%), followed by probable viral illness in 20 (19.0%) of the patients. Bacteremia (6.7%) and bacterial meningitis (5.7%) were less commonlyfound. Four (3.8%) patients died. The admission rate was 62.9%. Eighteen patients (17.1%) also had seizures. Sensitive indicators to help distinguish those with serious illness, with the exception of clinical appearance, were notfound. Pneumonia is commonlyfound in children with hyperpyrexia. Temperature 41.1 °C was associated with a high rate of serious disease.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?