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What Causes Fever Along With High WBC Count?
Question: Hi! My 21 month old daughter was sent to the hospital with a diagnosis of strep and a wbc of 35. She has been here for 4 days now and has had high fevers all up to 104 2 times a day and it is very hard to treat and get it back down. She was put on rocephin Iv the first night and is still on that and on the 3rd day they added bioxin 2 times a day. Her white count has gone from 35 to 22 to 34 to 23 respectively. She has had 2 negative chest X-rays, blood cultures and urine cultures are still showing nothing. I'm getting concerned the doctors don't know what else to do. Is there anything you could suggest?
Brief Answer:
Fevers
Detailed Answer:
Hello. I just read through your question.I am sorry your daughter is going through this.
It seems the doctors in the hospital have not yet determined exactly what the problem is. They know that there is an infection, based on the fever and high white count, but they haven't yet isolated the strain of bacteria responsible. They started her on the correct broad spectrum antibiotic and, appropriately, added another antibiotic when they didn't achieve the desired result.
The negative chest x-rays are encouraging. The urine culture that has shown no growth so far is unlikely to change and will probably remain negative. the blood culture that has shown nothing so far, may still show something in the next couple of days. this would be very helpful as it would inform the doctors which antibiotics the bacteria is sensitive to. Then treatment can be aimed directly at the offending bacteria.
Until then, however, the treatment plan is a good one. If the blood culture ends up showing nothing, the treatment is still appropriate. It will just take more time.
Meanwhile, continue to comfort your daughter. Make sure she is well hydrated as this will speed her recovery. And give the treatment more time.
Good luck.
Fevers
Detailed Answer:
Hello. I just read through your question.I am sorry your daughter is going through this.
It seems the doctors in the hospital have not yet determined exactly what the problem is. They know that there is an infection, based on the fever and high white count, but they haven't yet isolated the strain of bacteria responsible. They started her on the correct broad spectrum antibiotic and, appropriately, added another antibiotic when they didn't achieve the desired result.
The negative chest x-rays are encouraging. The urine culture that has shown no growth so far is unlikely to change and will probably remain negative. the blood culture that has shown nothing so far, may still show something in the next couple of days. this would be very helpful as it would inform the doctors which antibiotics the bacteria is sensitive to. Then treatment can be aimed directly at the offending bacteria.
Until then, however, the treatment plan is a good one. If the blood culture ends up showing nothing, the treatment is still appropriate. It will just take more time.
Meanwhile, continue to comfort your daughter. Make sure she is well hydrated as this will speed her recovery. And give the treatment more time.
Good luck.
Note: For further queries related to your child health, Talk to a Pediatrician. Click here to Book a Consultation.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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