It's hard enough to watch your cheerful, active child become lethargic and slow to a crawl because of a fever. It's even more difficult when you don't know the reason why. If you're concerned about infections or fevers that hang-on too long, or keep coming back, we are here to help.
Infectious Disease Services are available at Mission Children's Hospital any time your child needs them...day or night. Our pediatric infectious disease specialists diagnose and treat conditions from easily identifiable infections to the most difficult and complicated problems. Working closely with your primary care physician, we provide optimal medical care together with pediatric experience that helps us connect with your child and ease your concerns.
We ask parents to obtain a referral for our services, so please talk to your child's healthcare provider about how we may help.
Conditions Treated
Our pediatric infectious disease physicians are familiar with a wide variety of illnesses caused by bacteria, viruses,
fungi and parasites. Some of the conditions we treat include:
- Recurrent fever, or fever of unknown origin
- Bone and joint infections
- Complicated skin and soft tissue infections
- Tuberculosis and fungal infections
- HIV and AIDS
- Difficult and/or severe respiratory infections
- Hepatitis
- Unexplained lymphadenopathy (enlarged lymph nodes)
- Central nervous system infections such as meningitis and encephalitis
Signs of a fever include fussiness, no appetite or decreased activity, but always take your child's temperature so that you know how severe the fever might be. If your child has a fever, please follow these guidelines:
- Never give aspirin; use acetaminophen or ibuprofen
- Encourage plenty of fluids
- Dress your child lightly
- If your child is younger than 2 months and has a temperature of 100.4° or higher
- Temperature over 102° that does not respond to medication
- Has a fever for more than 24 hours without obvious cause, or that goes away and returns
- Your child is difficult to awaken, has difficulty breathing, has back pain, a headache, stiff neck or rash, feels burning when urinating, or is vomiting
A temperature of 105° is a medical emergency - seek immediate medical attention!
Services Provided
Beyond medical training and experience, our pediatric infectious disease physicians understand children; their unique symptoms, appropriate treatments and how to communicate with even our youngest patients. Services always begin with a thorough medical history and physical examination so that the best course of treatment is individually determined. Other services we offer include:
- Antibiotic and antiviral medications
- IV antibiotic therapy
- Diagnostic tests as necessary
- Consultation for unusual infections, unexplained fevers
- Travel-related vaccinations and tropical disease consultation
- Primary care for HIV/AIDS
- Long term management of immune deficiency disorders
