Question
My child is 5 years old and has had a continuous fever for 3 days, with high fever up to 39 degrees at night, accompanied by headaches and drowsiness. I’m worried it might be meningitis.
Answer
Hello, based on your description, your child may be suffering from an upper respiratory infection, often caused by catching a cold. Symptoms include coughing, dizziness, headaches, fever, muscle aches, loss of appetite, and fatigue. As for meningitis, patients typically experience nausea, vomiting, projectile vomiting, and increased intracranial pressure. From your description, it doesn’t seem like your child’s condition is meningitis. It is advisable to take your child to the hospital for routine blood tests, sputum culture, drug sensitivity tests, and mycoplasma tests to determine the cause and corresponding treatment methods to avoid delaying the illness. At the same time, encourage your child to drink warm water and monitor any changes in their condition. If you are concerned about the possibility of meningitis, you can request a brain MRI scan as it is more sensitive for diagnosing meningitis than a CT scan. I hope my answer can help you.