ABSTRACT
G. H. McCracken and Feij have described a number of clinical syndromes encountered in newborns with bacterial infections, all of which may present as fever of unexplained origin. Viral infections accompanied by unexplained fever in infancy include cytomegalovirus infection, the infectious mononucleosis syndrome and the hepatitides. The approach to the pediatric patients with unexplained and/or prolonged fever is usually a ‘staged’ program. With the pediatric age group ranging from prematurity into adolescence, the multitude and heterogeneity of factors responsible for unexplained fever is larger than that of any other class of patients. Urinary tract infections are mostly due to E. coli, even in the neonatal period, and are very frequently associated with fever, with or without other signs of sepsis. Feeding problems and prolonged jaundice are among the nonspecific manifestations of urinary tract infection often found in the newborn baby.
