Differential diagnoses for recurrent or periodic fevers in children
| CAUSE | DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSES |
|---|---|
| Infectious | |
| • Bacterial or mycobacterial | • Brucellosis, dental abscess, endocarditis, nontuberculous mycobacteria (eg, Mycobacterium chelonae), occult bacterial infection, recurrent bacterial infections, relapsing fever (Borrelia spp other than Borrelia burgdorferi), Yersinia enterocolitica |
| • Parasitic | • Malaria (eg, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale) |
| • Viral | • Epstein-Barr virus (infectious mononucleosis), hepatitis viruses, recurrent viral infections |
| Inflammatory or immunologic | Behçet syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease (eg, Crohn disease), hereditary fever syndromes (eg, FMF), juvenile dermatomyositis, PFAPA syndrome, sarcoidosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (Still disease), vasculitis (eg, polyarteritis nodosa) |
| Malignant | Leukemia, lymphoma |
| Other | Benign giant lymph node hyperplasia (Castleman disease), CNS abnormalities (eg, hypothalamic dysfunction), drug fever, factitious fever, IgG4-related disease, immunodeficiency syndromes with recurrent infections |
CNS—central nervous system; FMF—familial Mediterranean fever; IgG4—immunoglobulin G4; PFAPA—periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis.