[Prospective study of patients with prolonged fever]

A prospective study was made in 283 patients who attended IMAN's Children's Hospital, with fever the main symptom. A clinical and paraclinical procedure was designed for the study of each patient. 112 patients were eliminated because they did not follow the established criteria. All patients had acute infectious diseases considered trivial; 85% were 3 weeks to 2 years of age. They all had an antibacterial treatment without precise diagnosis. It was considered that on admission the patients showed a normal course in the natural history of the basic disease. The study group included 171 patients 2 months to 13 years of age; 62.5% had fever due to infection, 12.2% to collagenopathies, 7% to neoplasias 5.2% to miscellaneous causes and 12.8% were not diagnosed. The most common infectious causes for prolonged fever were tuberculosis, upper respiratory infections, amoebic liver abscess, typhoid fever and malaria. Careful questioning and clinical examination were enough to enlighten diagnosis in more than 80% of the patients.