How common is petechiae with a viral infection in children?

[Zade10]

How common is it for a petechiae rash to be caused by a viral infection?
3 year old has had a fever for 3/4 days, long standing wet cough that won’t budge for weeks and now in last couple days has been really tired, pale and purple under her eyes and then yesterday developed a petechiae rash on her chest which today has spread to her arms.
GP says ear infection after examination and gave antibiotics but I’m just worried about it being something blood related due to the rash and paleness.
But even with a fever she’s actually pretty well.

This is the rash on the arm.

Has she had blood tests?

@Funchythesnowwoman no the Dr didn’t mention the need for them, probably should have pushed for it.

If you are worried, you should really ask a medical professional to look at it. And you are worried. Or else you wouldnt have posted. Medical advice from randoms on the Internet should never, ever be relied upon. And rashes in children always merit a review.

But (and not instead of it being looked at by a qualified person as you really should do), rashes with viral infections are common in children, but a "viral" rash wouldn't be a genuine petechial rash (which looks like little tiny pinprick bruises, is flat, isnt usually itchy and doesn't blanch). If it is genuinely a pinprick rash, its not necessarily anything to be overly concerned about, especially if there's no other bruising, but "might" merit a blood sample.

Sick children are a worry. I hope yours gets better quickly. X

@PotatoFruit i am worries that’s why she seen the GP today, they didn’t seem overly concerned and gave us antibiotics for a supposed ear infection but she’s had no ear pain nor mentioned her ears at all.
I know medical advice from
mumsnet isn’t the best but was just looking to see if anyone’s child had, had petechiae with a virus?
GP ruled out serious infection like meningitis.

Petechiae can be caused by prolonged coughing and vomiting.

Since the MenB vaccine came in, petechiae caused by menB bacteria are now very rare, and most cases are viral BUT as others have said, you need to keep an eye on your child. If they start to seem unwell, in particular, you need to go to A&E or call the GP.

dontforgetthebubbles.com/petechiae-in-children-study/

@OtterMummy2024 im confident she does not have an invasive bacterial infection my concern was more something to do with her blood due to the paleness, fatigue and the petechiae rash.

@Zade10 IME my son would have petechial rashes and every time he had one (and Im talking lots!) he would go for a blood test. This is because he also had enlarged lymph nodes, so that was a red flag and needed investigation (petechial rash + accompanying red flag symptom).

If I was in your shoes, I wouldn’t be happy with the GP’s diagnosis, only because there are those other symptoms there that accompany the rash. I would call 111 or even head to A&E for her to be checked over and ask for bloods to be done. I say this as a parent of a child who was misdiagnosed for years by a GP who brushed off my child’s symptoms of a chronic autoimmune disease as anxiety.

@RecyclingSal i know I honestly thought they would recommend a blood test but no mention of it at all but they also said all her lymph nodes in her neck were swollen but that was due to the ear infection.
I will say today she is a lot better, rash is still there maybe faded slightly so I assume the antibiotics are working.

Bless her. I would wait until Monday then if she is showing improvement. If shes still same by then, ask to see a different GP and go from there

@RecyclingSal yes definitely a good idea! Don’t see a need for immediate action right now but will see how things are on Monday. Kids are such a worry!!

Oh they are, aren’t they! They like to keep us on our toes! Fingers crossed that she keeps improving and is just run down with a bug, bless her.

Ds used to get them regularly. We were always sent for a blood test from the GP even when he wasn't showing much signs of being unwell.

I don't think the girls ever got them.

@MargaretThursday were all the blood tests normal?

They normally came out as having an infection. Or, as the dr normally said, "they're out of the normal range, but in the right way" ie it showed a normal infection rather than something more serious.

He had everything from tiny red dots all over through to huge 2p sized and bigger, or rapidly spreading so you could see them coming out, ones that looked like bruises etc.

Because he generally wasn't very ill with it, they weren't a huge worry.
They did tell me at A&E that they had no concerns about meningitis (normally they were non-fading) as they said the rash is one of the later symptoms there if it comes at all, so he'd be noticeably very ill if he had that.

@MargaretThursday yeah the GP said the swim thing to us about meningitis she’d have been noticeably very unwell so was reassured it definitely wasn’t that. Assuming it has been caused by the infection.