Description:
Introduction:
Fever is a common complaint in children constituting 70% of all consultation with pediatricians. Fever of unknown origin is a fever of more than 38.3 degrees centigrade documented in several occasions for at least 3 weeks with no apparent source after one week of investigations in a hospital. FUO has a wide range of etiologies almost 200 causes hence posing a diagnostic challenge among patients with FUO, Including difficulties in differentiating between benign and life threatening conditions.
This study aimed in determining the prevalence and management outcomes of fever of unknown origin among infants and children treated at KCMC pediatric department in 2015.
Methodology:
A cross section study using secondary data was conducted to determine the prevalence, common etiologies, and management outcomes of patients with FUO treated at KCMC pediatric department in 2015. A total of 51 infants and children aged 2 months to 14 years was included in the study. Data analysis was performed using SPSS, frequency and proportion was used to calculate prevalence of FUO
Results:
The prevalence of FUO was 1.36%. The etiology of FUO was identified in 94% of cases and only 5.8% of cases
remained undiagnosed. The outcome was good in 90.2% regardless of empirical treatment before admission and short duration of hospitalization < 1 month.
Conclusion:
We have found a low prevalence of FUO among infants and children at the study area. Most of the etiologies were infectious and the outcome was good for most cases. Empirical treatment was mostly with antipyretics and a hospital stay duration was less than a month for all cases.