Rashes with a fever that usually affect children


If our child has a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius or higher than that, it's generally a manifestation of some type of infection. If you suspect that your child includes a fever, consider these conditions:

Chickenpox: This viral infection is extremely contagious, but harmless in most cases. Your child develops itchy spots - you can almost see them appearing one by one - which then turn into fluid-filled blisters. Usually, the kid only has a gentle illness, although older children and adults can become more unwell.

Giving paracetamol regularly can make your child feel better and calamine lotion can help reduce any itching. Encourage your child to not scratch - although this is easier said than done - because scratching can lead to scarring. Your child is no longer infectious in the end the lesions have dried up.

Drug reactions: If your child has had any medicines in the past week, think about the possibility of a rash being the result of a drug - antibiotics in particular. Any fever may be due to an underlying infection, but can be caused by the a reaction to the drug itself. Stop taking any suspected drugs and consult your doctor.

Roseola infantum: This viral infection usually affects children aged under three. Typically, the rash appears after your child has had a higher fever for a few days and shows as a flat light-red rash on the trunk as well as swollen lymph glands in the neck. Recovery takes in regards to a week, which condition is entirely harmless.

Most children in the UK get involved in the typical immunisation schedule, so childhood infectious diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella (or MMR for short) have grown to be rare. However, not all parents get their kids vaccinated, so in places these infections have become more widespread. Further possible causes of your child's rash and fever are therefore:

  1. Measles: Your child usually has a runny nose, a cough and red, bloodshot eyes. Flat and dull red spots often appear first on the face before the rash spreads to areas behind the ear and finally your child's trunk.
  2. Mumps: This infection can be easy to recognise because of tender and swollen glands on one or both sides from the face and a sore throat.
  3. Rubella: The fever in rubella, or German measles, is commonly only mild. Typically, the glands in the back of your child's neck are very swollen, while flat pinkish spots appear on the face and trunk. The neck swellings led doctors of the past to claim that these were in a position to diagnose this rash in the dark - and appearance very clever!

These childhood infections on the whole tend to be mild, and your child is likely to get better without any specific treatment - which, by the way, is just available for relieving symptoms and managing complications instead of treating the infections themselves. Consult your doctor for confirmation of the diagnosis and advice on suitable treatment. However, these illnesses do increase the risk of additional transmissions from the ears or lungs, and complications such as inflammation from the brain, although rare, are possible.

Look out for the following symptoms and signs in your child, which might indicate complications and prompt you to seek medical advice immediately from your doctor:

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Note: This article was sent to us by: George Zenitti at 03122011

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