Q: My three-year-old daughter is suffering from fever for the last three weeks. When she takes medicines, the fever subsides, but as soon as her medicines are stopped, it recurs. We got her blood and urine tested. She also underwent a chest x-ray. All the reports are normal. She also underwent tests for pneumonia, malaria and typhoid, but all negative. Finally, the doctor said that she is suffering from viral fever. Does viral fever last for three weeks? Currently we are giving her Combiflam.

A:No single episode of viral fever should last three weeks. It is possible that she has been getting repeated episodes of viral infection one after the other, in which case you will have to be patient and will have to check her fever pattern. If her fever continues, then she needs to be investigated for prolonged fever and fever pattern needs to be monitored.