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18 month old with recurrent viral infections

Posted by bac10 @bac10, May 20, 2018

18 month old daughter with 25+ infections/recurrent fevers. 6 ear infections with PE tubes placed at 6 months, hand foot and mouth a few weeks after tubes, rsv, and flu. More recently illnesses have look like high temperatures (102-105.6) with runny nose/congestion sometimes but more often no other symptoms. Every time she is brought to the doctor or these episodes they always run the normal RSV, Strep, and Influenza A/B tests... all are ALWAYS negative. Episodes were every 2-3 weeks and are now every 10 days on the dot. During high fever episodes she is lethargic, shaky, miserable, moans and just wants to be held or sleep. It is a blessing that she has not had febrile seizures. Temps come down to low 100s with tylenol and motrin. X-ray of sinuses showed sinus infection, which we thought we had the answer but two weeks exactly she was sick again with her typical temps.

For example, since April 1st she was hospitalized for a week with adenovirus. In the hospital chest x-ray showed probable pneumonia and prior to d/c CT (yes CT on an 18 month old) was done and showed that her sinuses are clear. Ultrasound of her kidneys and bladder completed in the hospital which looked fine. Urine samples did not grow anything so UTIs are ruled out. Following discharge, she had croup two weeks later while on antibiotics, two days after croup she had an ear infection, two weeks after ear infection she had five days of unexplained fevers (tested negative for RSV, Influenza A/B and strep), two days after fever broke she threw up six times and then slept for 14 hours straight. Ten days after throwing up she spiked her normal 104 temperature, green snotty nose (she has had a runny/snotty nose for a few days). Has a peanut allergy, irrigate nose at night and has a prescribed nasal spray am/pm and on montelukast.

She been to two different immunologists as well as a rheumatologist. Blood panels recently done and showed ANA- 1:160, elevated CRP levels and that she is anemic (she eats a lot of meat but I know it is common). Immunology has ruled out immunodeficiency’s and rheumatology has ruled out autoimmune disorders. Both refer us back to the other or say she is “normal”. We do not feel like we are getting answers as to why she is getting so ill so frequently and routine.

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bac10 | @bac10 | May 25, 2018
In reply to @kanaazpereira "Hi @bac10, I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter and all that your family is..." + (show)
@kanaazpereira

Hi @bac10,

I'm so sorry to hear about your daughter and all that your family is going through. As a parent myself, i can imagine how very worried you must be, especially with no definitive diagnosis! I'm also tagging Connect members @miche who along with @jhrbts and @lotsostufffailing talked about CVID or Common Variable Immune Deficiency; I hope they return with some more information that might help, as they had posted quite a while ago in this discussion:
– https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cvid/

I'd also like to introduce you to some of Connect's Mentors to see if they may have more insight; please meet @johnbishop @hopeful33250 @gailb and @windwalker.

In the meantime, I found two very informative papers on unexplained fever and recurrent infections in young children, which I'd sincerely encourage you to read. You can view both studies here:
– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC261750/
– https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3377046/

@bac10, I realize that this is stressful and that you're doing all that you can. We're here to help.

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Thank you for the help and information. It's greatly appreciated.

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bac10 | @bac10 | May 25, 2018
In reply to @johnbishop "@bac10, Another favorite search tool of mine is Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/). It is good when you..." + (show)
@johnbishop

@bac10,

Another favorite search tool of mine is Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/). It is good when you are trying to find recent research articles. I did a search for your phrase "recurrent viral infections in infants" and found the following links that may provide some helpful information:

-- https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=1%2C24&as_ylo=2018&as_vis=1&q=recurrent+viral+infections+in+infants&btnG=

I clicked the 2018 link at the top left to show the links in newest to oldest order which is another reason I use the tool.

John

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Great sources thank you!

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Mentor
Terri Martin, Volunteer Mentor | @windwalker | May 25, 2018
In reply to @johnbishop "@bac10, Another favorite search tool of mine is Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/). It is good when you..." + (show)
@johnbishop

@bac10,

Another favorite search tool of mine is Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/). It is good when you are trying to find recent research articles. I did a search for your phrase "recurrent viral infections in infants" and found the following links that may provide some helpful information:

-- https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=1%2C24&as_ylo=2018&as_vis=1&q=recurrent+viral+infections+in+infants&btnG=

I clicked the 2018 link at the top left to show the links in newest to oldest order which is another reason I use the tool.

John

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@johnbishop, I had a bad experience with benzocaine myself this past March. I was using it constantly for a bad molar. It caused a bad case of SVT, superventricular tachycardia. I thought I was having a heart attack! It took many days aftet I quit using it for my heart to settle down. Won't do that again.

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Ingegerd Enscoe, Alumni Mentor | @astaingegerdm | May 26, 2018
In reply to @JustinMcClanahan "Hi @bac10, welcome to Connect. I can see why you are concerned. I know from experience..." + (show)
@JustinMcClanahan

Hi @bac10, welcome to Connect. I can see why you are concerned. I know from experience that kids and toddlers, especially those that go to daycare, can be frequently sick with all sorts of different bugs. I also had a toddler go through hand, foot, and mouth, as well as what were unconfirmed absence seizures for a brief period. I can't imagine having to deal with the frequency of infections and illnesses that you having to.

Here is a video Q&A with Angela Mattke, M.D., who hosts a regular series called Ask the Mayo Mom, about Common Infections in Children and When to Worry It Could Be Something More, https://youtu.be/oNGrCIlJpEQ.

@bac10, while it is encouraging to here that your daughter does not present with an immunodeficiency or autoimmune disorder, I can understand why you are frustrated without a diagnosis or reason for all of the infections. While I am not a medical professional, has one of your providers talked about environmental factors as being a possibility? Does your daughter go to a daycare where other children are frequently sick?

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It must be frightening not to know what is going on, especially since all testing has been normal. Going to Cincinnati Children’s is the best you can do !

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maruchan0317 | @maruchan0317 | Dec 30, 2018

I'm sure this has been discussed (many times) but I wanted to get some concrete experiences from others. This is our first child. My wife slowly winded down breastfeeding because she has gone back to work. We traveled to Italy in Sept and she got a lil sick for about 2 days while there. She seemed to be OK. Then about 4 days later she developed a cold which led to Bronchitis. Basically she has been on/off sick since this time. I dont think she has gone more than 1week without having something. She just got over having a fever for 4 days yesterday and now since yesterday night, she is coughing pretty hard that it affected her sleep. The coughing continued this morning to the point that she threw up a little bit. She has never been to daycare. I know her immune system is probably just reacting but I am a concerned parent. Outside of letting her immune system develop is there something else I should be worried about? Has anyone had their child be continually sick, getting over one cold or type of virus and no sooner have something return or something new come up? And we clean but not anything more than what you would do normally. We haven't got to the point where we have though, well maybe we should clean everyday or more often.
Thanks

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1 reply
Kanaaz Pereira, Connect Moderator | @kanaazpereira | Dec 30, 2018

Welcome to Connect, @maruchan0317.
I have 3 children (all grown up now), but I remember how worried I used to get when they showed even the slightest sign of getting sick! I’m so glad you’ve joined this group. You may notice that I moved your message and combined it with this existing discussion as I thought it would be beneficial for you to meet other members who may have some insights to share.
If you click on VIEW & REPLY in your email notification, you will see the whole discussion and can join in, meet, and participate with other members talking about their or their loved ones' experiences.

You mentioned that your daughter had bronchitis, and I encourage you to read this Mayo Clinic information about a very similar condition that can occur in very young children – Bronchiolitis. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bronchiolitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351565
"Bronchiolitis starts out with symptoms similar to those of a common cold but then progresses to coughing, wheezing and sometimes difficulty breathing. Symptoms of bronchiolitis can last for several days to weeks, even a month.”

Has she been seen by a doctor, @maruchan0317? Are there any medications or other remedies that you’ve tried to help with the cough?

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Ingegerd Enscoe, Alumni Mentor | @astaingegerdm | Dec 30, 2018
In reply to @maruchan0317 "I'm sure this has been discussed (many times) but I wanted to get some concrete experiences..." + (show)
@maruchan0317

I'm sure this has been discussed (many times) but I wanted to get some concrete experiences from others. This is our first child. My wife slowly winded down breastfeeding because she has gone back to work. We traveled to Italy in Sept and she got a lil sick for about 2 days while there. She seemed to be OK. Then about 4 days later she developed a cold which led to Bronchitis. Basically she has been on/off sick since this time. I dont think she has gone more than 1week without having something. She just got over having a fever for 4 days yesterday and now since yesterday night, she is coughing pretty hard that it affected her sleep. The coughing continued this morning to the point that she threw up a little bit. She has never been to daycare. I know her immune system is probably just reacting but I am a concerned parent. Outside of letting her immune system develop is there something else I should be worried about? Has anyone had their child be continually sick, getting over one cold or type of virus and no sooner have something return or something new come up? And we clean but not anything more than what you would do normally. We haven't got to the point where we have though, well maybe we should clean everyday or more often.
Thanks

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@maruchan0317 - how old is your child? Is she up to date with immunizations?
Traveling exposes everyone to many illnesses, especially in a foreign country that may not use same immunizations as we do. One example is whooping cough. At times a regular cold lingers and can turn into a secondary infection in ears, sinuses or chest. Having a fever for 4 days is cause for a visit with the pediatrician.

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seevans | @seevans | Jan 16, 2019

You might want to research auto inflammatory diseases. My grandson seem to be routinely sick and pediatrician would say viral. Thank goodness his parents kept questioning that as it turns out he has an autoinflammatory disease called Familial Mediterranean Fever which was determined by genetic testing.

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