Question

A 3-week old presents to the office in January with a 1-week history of nasal congestion and occasional cough. On the night prior to the visit in infant developed a fever 102ºF rectally, was difficult to breastfeed, and had paroxysmal coughing and noisy, labored breathing. On exam, you note an ill-appearing infant who is lethargic with wheezing, tachypnea, and intercostal retractions. The infant is home with the mom at this time; however, has a sibling who is 4-years-old and is in daycare and recently had cold symptoms. Based on the clinical presentations, what is the most likely cause of the infant’s illness?

Answer 1

Answer:

rsv

Explanation:

Answer 2

Answer:

The 3 week old child is showing signs of common cold transformed to bronchitis indicative of RSV infection.

Explanation:

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a respiratory illness of nose, throat and lungs which commonly occurs in infants at young chronological age of ≤12 weeks. This RSV virus is easily transmitted if the child is crowded with children or have siblings. It is mentioned that the child’s 4 years old sibling goes to day care and may have brought the RSV infection. This RSV infection causes cold symptoms followed by bronchitis or pneumonia. The cold symptoms exhibited by the child include fever, cough, congestion, sneezing, poor breastfeeding etc. When the infection runs deep after few days, it shows lower respiratory tract infection i.e. bronchitis symptoms. The symptoms of bronchitis include fast breathing, wheezing, belly breathing or tugging between their ribs due to intercostal retractions. The complete course of infection lasts an average of 5-7 days.