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Fever
National Pediatric Nighttime Curriculum
Written by Debbie Sakai, M.D.
Institution: Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital

Case 1
 4-month-old well-appearing girl admitted
for croup and respiratory distress.
Develops fever to 39.1.
What additional evaluation would you do at
this point?

Case 2
 12-year old boy with AML, in induction,
admitted for febrile neutropenia. He
had just received his first dose of
ceftazidime and vancomycin when he
developed another fever to 38.5, chills,
and new dizziness shortly after
receiving the antibiotics.
What would be the next steps in this
patient’s management?

Objectives
 To determine which patients are at high
risk of developing sepsis.
 To assess patient with fever.
 To initiate empiric therapy.

Which patients are high-risk for
sepsis?
 Neonates
 Transplant recipients
Bone marrow
Solid organ
 Oncology patients
Undergoing therapy, mucositis, central line
Most chemotherapy: nadir ~ 10 days after rx
 Asplenic patients, including sickle cell

Definition of fever
 38.0
 Neonates (< 12 months)
 Any immunocompromised patient
 Including transplant patients, patients with
immunodeficiencies, oncology patients (sustained ≥38 x 1
hour)
 38.5
 All other patients
 These are general guidelines, individual
patients/services may have different parameters

What etiologies cause fever?
 Infectious
 Inflammatory
 Oncologic
 Other: CNS dysfunction, drug fever
 Life-threatening conditions

Infectious
 Systemic
 Bacteremia, sepsis, meningitis, endocarditis
 Respiratory
 URI, sinusitis, otitis media, pharyngitis, pneumonia,
bronchiolitis
 Abdominal
 Urinary tract infection, abscess (liver, kidney, pelvis)
 Bone/joint infection
 Hardware infection
 Central line, VP shunt, G-tube

Inflammatory
 Kawasaki disease
 Juvenile inflammatory arthritis
 Lupus
 Inflammatory bowel disease
 Henoch-Schonlein purpura

Others
 CNS dysfunction
 Drug fever

Life-threatening conditions
 Sepsis, febrile neutropenia
 Vital sign instability, poor-perfusion, may have altered mental
status, disseminated intravascular coagulation
 Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis
 Splenomegaly, bicytopenia, elevated ferritin, elevated
triglycerides, low fibrinogen, hemophagocytosis, low/absent NK
cell function, elevated soluble IL2 receptor
 Malignant hyperthermia
 Following administration of inhaled anesthetics or depolarizing
neuromuscular blockers (succinylcholine), at-risk patients
include those with myopathy
 Muscle rigidity, rhabdomyolysis, acidosis, tachycardia

Assessment
 Vital signs
 Repeat physical exam
 Overall appearance (sick, toxic)
 Central/peripheral lines
 Incisions/wounds
 VP shunt/tracheostomy/gastrostomy tube
 Oral mucosa/perineal area for neutropenic patients
 Perfusion
 Call for help if concerning vital signs/exam
 Fellow or attending
 Rapid response team (RRT)/PICU

Laboratory evaluation
 What would you do if the patient has
hardware (VP shunt, tracheostomy,
gastrostomy tube) or central line?
CBC with differential
Blood culture
CSF (tap VP shunt)

 What would you do if the patient has a
high risk for sepsis?
Immunocompromised
Transplant recipient
Oncology patient
Blood culture
Urinalysis and urine culture

 What would you do for an infant ≤ 2
months of age?
Blood culture
Catheterized urinalysis and urine culture
Lumbar puncture

 Who needs a urinalysis and urine culture?
Circumcised males < 6 months
Uncircumcised males < 1 year
Females < 2 years
Immunocompromised patients
Patients with history of UTI/pyelonephritis

 Who needs a lumbar puncture?
 Neonates ≤ 2 months
 Ill-appearing
 Altered mental status
 What tests do you send?
 Gram stain and culture
 Cell count and differential
 Protein and glucose
 Extra tube for additional studies
 Enteroviral PCR, HSV PCR, CA encephalitis project

 Consider CRP, ESR
 Consider PT/PTT, fibrinogen
 Consider chest x-ray
 Consider nasopharyngeal DFA
 For immunosuppressed patients consider:
Viral PCR studies (ie CMV, EBV, HHV6)
Additional imaging (ie ultrasound, CT scan)

Treatment for non-high risk patients
 May not need empiric antibiotics
 Consider the following issues:
Is patient clinically stable?
Are the screening laboratory studies
suggestive of infection?

Treatment for patients with central
lines
 Ceftriaxone
 Vancomycin

Treatment for neonates ≤ 2 months
 If < 28 days old
Ampicillin AND cefotaxime OR
Ampicillin AND gentamicin
 Consider acyclovir
 If 29-60 days old
Ceftriaxone ± Ampicillin OR Vancomycin
Until CSF results are known (cell count,
protein, glucose), initiate therapy with
meningitic dosing regimen

Treatment for febrile neutropenia
 Broad-spectrum antibiotics with Pseudomonas
coverage
 Ex: use ceftazidime or piperacillin-tazobactam
 Consider double coverage for possible resistant
Pseudomonas
 Ex: add amikacin or tobramycin
 Consider gram-positive coverage (central line,
skin infections)
 Ex: add vancomycin
 Consider anaerobic coverage (mucositis,
typhlitis)
 Ex: use piperacillin-tazobactam or add clindamycin

Take home points
 Infections are the most common cause of fever
in children
 During assessment of a child with fever, pay
close attention to vital sign changes, overall
appearance, and potential sites of infection
 Closely monitor for clinical decompensation after
antibiotic administration, particularly in patients
at high-risk of developing sepsis

References
 Baraff LJ. Management of fever without source in infants and
children. Ann Emerg Med. 2000. 36:602-14.
 Meckler G, Lindemulder S. Fever and neutropenia in pediatric
patients with cancer. Emerg Med Clin N Am. 2009. 27:525-44.
 Palazzi EL. Approach to the child with fever of unknown origin.
UpToDate. 2011
 Palazzi DL. Etiologies of fever of unknown origin. UpToDate.
2011.
 Tolan R. Fever of unknown origin: A diagnostic approach to this
vexing problem. Clin Pediatr. 2010;49:207-13.

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