[Occult bacteremia at a pediatric emergency clinic]

In order to known the incidence of unsuspected bacteremia in our area and to determine the usefulness of the laboratory tests to identify children with such pathology, a prospective study was designed including 61 infants between 3 and 24 months of age admitted to our emergency room with fever of 39 degrees centigrade or more, without apparent focality or respiratory symptoms. All underwent blood culture, complete blood count and C-reactive protein plasma levels determination. No positive blood cultures were obtained. The relation bands/total neutrophils greater than 0.15 with leucocytosis or neutrophilia was not found in any child, and leucopenia was found in only one. We conclude that occult bacteremia is not present in our milieu amongst children who fit into the risk factor criteria defined by TEELE et al. and that it might be convenient to include a fever of less than 24 hours as a risk factor in order to exclude many children with fever and a clear focality.