title: The dogma of identifying occult bacterial infections in young febrile children: a survey of primary-care physicians.
abstract: Management of undifferentiated febrile illness in young children continues to be a controversial issue among primary-care physicians. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to 600 randomly selected physicians regarding their management of children with high fever and no focus of infection at various ages: 3 weeks, 7 weeks, 4 months and 20 months. Completed questionnaires were returned by 419 (70%) physicians. Nearly 77% of physicians would hospitalize a 3-week old infant with fever and 70% would treat these infants empirically with antibiotics. Sixty-one per cent of physicians would hospitalize a 7-week-old infant with fever and 46% would treat empirically with antibiotics. Approximately 80% and 93% of physicians, respectively, would not hospitalize 4- and 20-month-old infants with high fever and no focus of infection, but 72% and 59%, respectively, would treat such infants with antibiotics. There was considerable variation in the way physicians managed young febrile children with no focus of infection and the clinical approach of some physicians was remarkably different from current knowledge and recommendations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics (39), College of Medicine, King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University, PO Box 2925, Riyadh 11461, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: al-Zamil
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012529:Saudi Arabia
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents