Difficulties in diagnosing the causes of fever of unknown origin in children

The study involves the search for causes of fever of unknown origin (FUO) in 51 patients aged from 0 to 16 years, their average age was 9.4±4.09 years. We hadn’t revealed fundamental difference in gender, the ratio of boys and girls was 25/49% and 26/51% respectively. The average duration of stay in a 24-hour hospital before diagnosis was 10±3.6 days. The cause of FUO in 18/36% of patients was infection. Among all infections, herpes viruses prevailed: herpes simplex virus 1 was diagnosed in 11 cases (61%), Epstein-Barr virus - in 4 cases (22%), 3 patients (17%) had mixed viral-bacterial infections. Psychogenic fever was diagnosed in 16 patients (31%). Psychogenic fever in most cases occurred in girls - 12 cases (75%), their average was 11.9±1.88 years. Other causes of fever were following: malignant neoplasms - 2 cases, PFAPA syndrome - 8, CINCA-NOMID syndrome - 1, juvenile arthritis with systemic onset - 1, and nonspecific aortoarteritis - 1.