Temperature In Toddler For 6 Days

[ameliaand]

Hi,
My Toddler (2 year old) became unwell on Tuesday evening (6 days ago) with a temperature of 40.2, crying, cranky, irritable. We was seen by GP Wednesday morning, they checked ears, throat, mouth, chest & urine & stated viral infection. Toddler continued with high temperature, started to cough occasionally, runny nose, crying a lot, not eating very much, irritable, cranky, wouldn't play etc. Went back to GP Friday as I was concerned due to lack of engagement with activities and sleeping lots more than usual. Checked over again and told viral. Today she has eaten better than she has all week, she has walked around, her temperature is still at 38.2 now. At what point do I need to do more? It's been 6 days now is it normal for viral infections to last this long with a high temperature? Thank you

It can be but keep a close eye on her. It's good you've seen an improvement with eating etc as it's probably getting better. Last year my daughter had a monster virus with a temp that lasted 8 days, we ended up in A&E and they did a blood test as they were concerned about meningitis, it wasn't thankfully. I've never seen her so ill. Everything I've read says temps should resolve after 5 days max but just to reassure you they can go on longer. It's definitely more about how she is in herself, any signs of deterioration and speak to your GP. Best wishes hope she gets well soon xx

Thank you for taking the time to respond I do appreciate it. That was also my concern everything I am reading says after five days to get seen. She has definitely improved today from the rest of the week but she also still isn't 100% or back to her usual self. I think I will see how she is tomorrow and decide from there whether to take her to A&E or not. She does have a runny nose & a cough occasionally in the day time so it does look viral I guess. With improvements today I'm hoping she is over the worst of it and will continue to get better. Thank you again, you are very kind xx

A real doctor wouldn't diagnose with 'it's viral' without taking a nose swab to check for known viruses and rule out dangerous ones. Especially when fever goes past 40.... The more the illness continues, the fewer chances for the virus to be found. Viruses have names and real doctors would care to name them properly. There is so much illness around, the least a broken health care system could do is to test....But what's the point in finding out the name of the virus in a country where another institution (not NHS) decides who is entitled to antiviral treatment https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/at-least-550-million-of-covid-drugs-wasted-in-the-uk/ Meanwhile, 'it's viral' will simply be enough....

I'm a GP, and I can tell you that if I send a standard viral swab to the lab for a child (excepting for notifiable diseases such as suspected mumps, which should be swabbed for Public Health purposes) they will refuse to process it. Only swabs sent by the hospital will be processed, because in those circumstances the result may actually be actionable in some way (for cohort nursing reasons mainly). For a child who is not significantly clinically vulnerable, and who is assessed by a GP as being well enough to not require hospital admission, it ultimately doesn't change management if it is a rhinovirus vs an adenovirus vs a coronavirus. The treatment is the same regardless. Not to mention just how many children with viral illnesses present every year. The cost of processing viral swabs for all of them would be considerable, for no particular benefit.

Absolute lol that standard viral illnesses in children are now the subject of a conspiracy theory...

If no tests are necessary, then prevention is what's left: how do they advise on prevention, considering the rest of the world protects their children against covid, knowing how much untold damage it can cause? Uk was and is against chicken pox vaccines,using the same argument when it comes to covid vaccines. When no tests and no treatments, the only solution is to protect & prevent. How exactly is this done? How is the monitoring of the damage done to children by covid done? Covid is a notifiable disease: did they swab? If tests are too expensive, going to A&E isn't? How many A&E visits could be avoided if the right tests were done? And even if they did test, what would be the next step: antivirals? When a relative of mine was ill for 4 weeks, GP did the CRP test to test for acute bacterial infection, when all his symptoms were viral: how was it cheaper for NHS to do a blood test instead of a nasal swab/throat swab. Instead he was given 3 courses of antibiotics, because they didn't test for viruses: how is this cheaper, efficient, logical? He was never tested for viruses, left with fever for 3-4 weeks, for which antibiotics didn't work, but they continued to give them to a child with a viral infection. Delaying the correct treatment, missing school, risking antibiotic resistance. He also went to hospital, so why didn't they test him there for viruses if this was an option? Why didn't the GP tell them to go to hosp for viral tests if this is how it works? 3 courses of antibiotics for low grade fever, cough, headaches, numbness, breathlessness despite the CRP showing no bacterial infection? Now suspected of a lung abnormality not shown on a routine xray - at what point a viral test is important? How bad does it need to get? So a GP can refer a patient to hosp for a viral test, how does it work? Or do you need to be admitted to hosp to be entitled to a viral test?

How did this go for you? I could have literally written this myself word for word?

Hello,
After around 10 days she started to improve & feel better. I didn’t get to the bottom of what it was but she improved around day 10 and kept getting better until back to normal, probably around day 14 totally recovered. Hope you are okay x

Thank you for replying! On day 7, woke with temp but he actually ate breakfast this morning! So hopefully on the way up 🤞

It’s okay!
I’m glad! That’s hopefully a sign of improvement! It’s so worrying isn’t it I hope he is better very soon