Why is my son having persistent fever?

Q: My 10 years old son is suffering from fever especially in the evening for the last one month. We got him admitted to the hospital and there they have done all kinds of tests, which came normal. But he is still suffering from fever. Why is he suffering from persistent fever?

A:Since the fever is almost a month's duration and not responding to current medication, we should investigate further. Apart from routine tests like chest x-ray and ultrasound abdomen, tests like mantoux test, TB gold quantiferon, urine culture,stool culture, ANA-IF, CRP,Echocardiography maybe conducted. In certain cases it maybe worthwhile to do a CT scan chest and abdomen since it has a better diagnostic yield compared to chest x-ray and ultrasound. Your paediatrician will have to order tests based on the clinical examination of your child.