Extreme hyperpyrexia in childhood. Presentation similar to hemorrhagic shock and encephalopathy.
The authors report the cases of five previously well children, aged 8 to 33 months, who were seen over a 14-year period, with admission temperatures in excess of 42.0 degrees C (107.6 degrees F). Four of the patients died. Each child had a similar clinical illness in which the hyperpyrexia played a critical role. Negative blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and stool cultures excluded bacterial sepsis as a possible etiology. This illness is similar, if not identical, to the newly described syndrome of hemorrhagic shock and encephalopathy (HSES) reported in European and American infants.
Caspe
W B
WB
Department of Pediatrics, Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, NY 10457.
Nucci
A T
AT
Cho
S
S
D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012771:Shock, Hemorrhagic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013577:Syndrome