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What kind of cough? Not to freak you out but...

 

CA Health Dept. sent a bulletin home with all the public school children in our school district (Bakersfield) on Thursday warning of a huge uptick in whooping cough (pertussis) cases.

 

The number of cases in Riverside and LA counties are even higher than here.

 

If your children have not been immunized for that (or are on a delayed schedule) you might call your doctor. Actually either way, if my children had a fever for over a week, I'd be calling the doctor.

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Hi, pediatric nurse here. It's most likely a nasty summer virus, but if your child has a fever that lasts longer than 72 hours and is not trending downward, you should bring them in to be checked. It could be a bacterial infection that needs treatment.

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

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What kind of cough? Not to freak you out but...

 

CA Health Dept. sent a bulletin home with all the public school children in our school district (Bakersfield) on Thursday warning of a huge uptick in whooping cough (pertussis) cases.

 

The number of cases in Riverside and LA counties are even higher than here.

 

If your children have not been immunized for that (or are on a delayed schedule) you might call your doctor. Actually either way, if my children had a fever for over a week, I'd be calling the doctor.

 

DH, DD7, and I all had pertussis 4 years ago. Dr. said that would confer lifelong immunity. We are in San Bernardino County.

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Hi, pediatric nurse here. It's most likely a nasty summer virus, but if your child has a fever that lasts longer than 72 hours and is not trending downward, you should bring them in to be checked. It could be a bacterial infection that needs treatment.

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

 

 

J has had been fighting a temp of 100 for three WEEKS now. He is on Zithromax now (he spiked a 103 Wed evening) but even on the antibiotic he is not going below 100 add in Motrin, not below 99. Have you ever seen something like this?

 

Sorry OP for hijacking, hope it is ok. :o

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DH, DD7, and I all had pertussis 4 years ago. Dr. said that would confer lifelong immunity. We are in San Bernardino County.

I believe the information you were given is incorrect.

Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2005 May;24(5 Suppl):S58-61.

Duration of immunity against pertussis after natural infection or vaccination.

 

Wendelboe AM, Van Rie A, Salmaso S, Englund JA.

Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. awendelboe@unc.edu

Abstract

 

Despite decades of high vaccination coverage, pertussis has remained endemic and reemerged as a public health problem in many countries in the past 2 decades. Waning of vaccine-induced immunity has been cited as one of the reasons for the observed epidemiologic trend. A review of the published data on duration of immunity reveals estimates that infection-acquired immunity against pertussis disease wanes after 4-20 years and protective immunity after vaccination wanes after 4-12 years. Further research into the rate of waning of vaccine-acquired immunity will help determine the optimal timing and frequency of booster immunizations and their role in pertussis control.

 

 

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J has had been fighting a temp of 100 for three WEEKS now. He is on Zithromax now (he spiked a 103 Wed evening) but even on the antibiotic he is not going below 100 add in Motrin, not below 99. Have you ever seen something like this?

 

Sorry OP for hijacking, hope it is ok. :o

 

Has he had blood work done? I would demand that immediately for any fever lasting for three weeks. It could be mono which can cause fever for 6-8 weeks. And, although some docs will tell you that younger children don't have as many symptoms, my son had a fever for over a month at age 5. Not high, but it spiked up to around 100 for weeks. Once you have a dx, you just let it run its course, but with mono, there is potential for spleen involvement, and you want to keep tabs on that.

 

Other possibilities? Lots of different viruses...toxoplasmosis, cat scratch fever...it's hard to say without knowing more details about your child and his health history. The possibility for more serious illness also exists, but I wouldn't even begin to venture there on a message board without seeing the child.

 

I would make an appointment with a pediatrician and have the doctor give your child a complete exam including bloodwork. It's also helpful if you keep a record of your child's symptoms and fever throughout the day. Sometimes the pattern of a fever....high in the AM, high in the PM, spiking after being normal all day....can help the doc with the dx.

 

Hope your little one feels better soon!

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

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Has he had blood work done? I would demand that immediately for any fever lasting for three weeks. It could be mono which can cause fever for 6-8 weeks. And, although some docs will tell you that younger children don't have as many symptoms, my son had a fever for over a month at age 5. Not high, but it spiked up to around 100 for weeks. Once you have a dx, you just let it run its course, but with mono, there is potential for spleen involvement, and you want to keep tabs on that.

 

Other possibilities? Lots of different viruses...toxoplasmosis, cat scratch fever...it's hard to say without knowing more details about your child and his health history. The possibility for more serious illness also exists, but I wouldn't even begin to venture there on a message board without seeing the child.

 

I would make an appointment with a pediatrician and have the doctor give your child a complete exam including bloodwork. It's also helpful if you keep a record of your child's symptoms and fever throughout the day. Sometimes the pattern of a fever....high in the AM, high in the PM, spiking after being normal all day....can help the doc with the dx.

 

Hope your little one feels better soon!

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

 

My d.s. ran a fever off and on for weeks like that. They ran all sorts of tests on him - Lyme, leukemia, mono, juvenile arthritis, strep, etc, etc, etc. Each test got scarier and scarier. They never found the cause. Every single test came back negative. Eventually, it went away. Occasionally, he'll still run a slight fever for a few days, and I get scared that his weeks-long illness will return. We've been working a lot on immune boosting vitamins. I don't know if that's what helped or not, but he's definitely not as sick.

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: It's scary!! But, I agree at this point you need bloodwork!! I hope you find out what it is!!

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