Paediatric infectious disease for General Physicians
How pediatric infectious diseases is tested
Written for DHA, SMLE, DOH, QCHP, OMSB, MOH, NHRA and Kuwait MOH — the same GP licensing mix, not a pediatric infectious diseases specialist paper.
Paediatric ID is age-banded: neonatal sepsis, infant fever without source, meningitis cover, and the rash illnesses that still appear on Prometric.
Fever in a young infant is a full workup until proven otherwise. Meningitis drugs change with age. UTI is a dipstick plus when to image.
Kawasaki, scarlet fever, measles and roseola are rash-timing questions. Malaria and TB enter when the travel or Gulf labour history is in the stem.
Fever at 3 weeks of age — first idea?
Admit and work up. Do not send home on oral antibiotics because the child “looks well.”
Which meningitis organisms by age?
Neonates: GBS, E. coli, Listeria. Older infants: pneumococcus, meningococcus, Hib where unvaccinated. Cover follows that list.
When is a paediatric UTI imaged?
Atypical, recurrent, or young infants — ultrasound first. DMSA/MCUG depends on the stem’s age and recurrence, not every first simple cystitis in a school-age girl.
More Pediatrics subspecialties