2013 NICE 160 临床指南：五岁以下儿童发烧评估及初级管理临床指南

This guideline updates and replaces 'Feverish illness in children' (NICE clinical guideline47). The recommendations are labelled according to when they were originally published(see About this guideline for details).Feverish illness in young children usually indicates an underlying infection and is a cause ofconcern for parents and carers. Feverish illness is very common in young children, with between20 and 40% of parents reporting such an illness each year. As a result, fever is probably thecommonest reason for a child to be taken to the doctor. Feverish illness is also the second mostcommon reason for a child being admitted to hospital. Despite advances in healthcare, infectionsremain the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 years.Fever in young children can be a diagnostic challenge for healthcare professionals because it isoften difficult to identify the cause. In most cases, the illness is due to a self-limiting viralinfection. However, fever may also be the presenting feature of serious bacterial infections suchas meningitis or pneumonia. A significant number of children have no obvious cause of feverdespite careful assessment. These children with fever without apparent source are of particularconcern to healthcare professionals because it is especially difficult to distinguish betweensimple viral illnesses and life-threatening bacterial infections in this group. As a result, there is aperceived need to improve the recognition, assessment and immediate treatment of feverishillnesses in children.