A 13-year-old girl presents from an outside hospital for evaluation of 10 days of intermittent fever, emesis, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. The patient has a history of immune thrombocytopenic purpura at age 3 years, which resolved after corticosteroid treatment. She was otherwise well until 10 days prior to presentation when she developed several episodes of nonbloody and nonbilious emesis, poor appetite, fatigue, and tactile fevers. Her symptoms persisted with daily subjective fevers in addition to the development of several episodes of nonbloody diarrhea. Four days before presentation, she developed acute-onset, sharp, left upper quadrant abdominal pain. This pain was persistent and progressive over the next 4 days, prompting evaluation at her primary care physician’s (PCP’s) office. En route to her PCP, the patient had a brief episode of syncope without tonic-clonic movements or a postictal period. She was found to be tachycardic at the PCP’s office and was referred to...
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
January 2023
Index of Suspicion|
January 01 2023
Acute-Onset Fever and Abdominal Pain Leading to Shock in a Healthy 13-year-old Girl
James Bowen, MD;
James Bowen, MD
*Department of Pediatrics
Search for other works by this author on:
Kirsten Rose-Felker, MD;
Kirsten Rose-Felker, MD
†Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics
Search for other works by this author on:
Zachary Aldewereld, MD
Zachary Aldewereld, MD
‡Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, Department of Critical Care Medicine
§Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Search for other works by this author on:
Pediatr Rev (2023) 44 (1): 37–40.
Citation
James Bowen, Kirsten Rose-Felker, Zachary Aldewereld; Acute-Onset Fever and Abdominal Pain Leading to Shock in a Healthy 13-year-old Girl. Pediatr Rev January 2023; 44 (1): 37–40. https://doi.org/10.1542/pir.2021-005117
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Pay-Per-View Access
$25.00
800
Views
Comments