• Moria Be'er, Ayelet Rimon, Or Segev, Adi Huber, Dennis Scolnik, and Miguel Glatstein.
• From the Department of Pediatrics.
• Pediatr Emerg Care. 2024 Aug 1; 40 (8): e143e146e143-e146.

BackgroundHigh fevers, especially in young children, often alarm clinicians and prompt extensive evaluation based on perceptions of increased risk of serious bacterial infection (SBI), and even brain damage or seizure disorders.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of SBI in infants aged 3-36 months with fever ≥40.5°C in a population of infants offered universal pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13 and Haemophilus influenzae B immunization.MethodsThis study is a retrospective review of all infants aged 3-36 months with temperature ≥40.5°C presenting to a tertiary care pediatric emergency department over a 30-month period in an era of universal pneumococcal conjugate 13 and H. influenzae B immunization.ResultsSBI was recorded in 54 (21.8%) of 247 study infants, most commonly pneumonia 30 patients (12.1%) and urinary tract infection 16 patients (6.5%). Two patients had positive blood cultures, yielding a bacteremia rate of 0.8%. Patients with SBI had a significantly higher WBC count ( P < 0.0001) and C-reactive protein levels ( P < 0.0001), and were significantly more likely to be hospitalized ( P < 0.0001).DiscussionAlthough SBI was common (21.8%) in our cohort of hyperpyrexic infants universally offered vaccination with pneumococcal conjugate 13 and H. influenzae B vaccines, bacteremia was a rare finding (0.8%).Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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