Roseola Virus

Last week was quite an adventure. My son fell sick on Wednesday had a temperature of 99.5 deg. F. We thought that that it was just a minor ailment but his temperature climbed to 103.6 by Friday. We went to the doctor's immediately who couldn't diagnose the condition either. He had no ear infection, no flu, no strep virus and his chest X-ray was fine! That really had us worried.

As soon as the doctor gave him some Motorin, his fever went down to 100.5. She told us that he simply had a bad virus and that his fever should go away by Sunday. If it didn't she wanted us to bring him in on Monday. So, we continously monitored is temperature from Friday - Sunday. He had temperature on Friday (upto 101), which went down in the morning of Saturday to 99.5. By afternoon he was normal but the temperature came back Saturday night (101.6). Sunday morning he was fine (temperature down to 99.5) with it completely disappearing by afternoon and not returning on Monday.

However, by Monday morning he had a rash. We took him to the doctor anyway who told us that he had the 'Roseola Virus' (common and that the rash would go away within 24-48 hours.

To all the new parents (like us). Following are the symptoms/indications of the Roseola Virus .
1) Fever lasts for 3-5 days and can be unusually high for a short time (upto 103.5).

2) Spikes up from low fever to high. In my son's case, the fever climbed from 99 to 103.6 in about 2-3 hours on Friday.

3) After 3-5 days, the fever breaks and is replaced by a rash (red dots) on the body. This means that the child is recovering

4) The rash goes away within 24-48 hours.

5) If the child has high fever and no other causes such as ear infection, flu, strep etc. are detected by the doctor, Roseola is a possibility.

6) By giving the child Motorin or Tylenol, the fever can be managed.

It's always good to take your child to the doctor. Especially, when you don't know whats going on.