Maculopapular Childhood Rashes

rashes

BUY THIS AS A STUDY CARD

A kid without a rash just isn’t a kid.

Chicken Pox

  • Incubation: 10-21d, infective until crusted over
  • Rash: vesicles on macules (dewdrops on rosepetals),
  • Very pruritic!
  • Other symptoms: 1-3d prodrome of fever and respiratory symptoms
  • Treatment: supportive, acyclovir for severe disease, VZIG for post-exposure prophylaxis
  • Complications: 1st or 2nd trimester = congenital varicella syndrome

Roseola

  • Incubation: 5-15d
  • Rash: pink macules and maculopapules, starts on neck.
  • Non-pruritic!
  • Other symptoms: HIGH FEVER, cough, respiratory symptoms, erythematous pharynx, tonsils & TMs
  • Treatment: supportive
  • Complications: febrile seizures
  • * Generally affects kids <5 years old

Measles

  • Incubation: 10-14d, dx with measles IgM
  • Rash: maculopapular, starts on face.
  • Non-pruritic!
  • Other symptoms: the 3 Cs
    • 1) Cough 2) Coryza (runny nose) 3) Conjunctivitis
    • Koplik spots in mouth 1-2d before rash
  • Treatment: supportive, prophylactic Ig
  • Complications: secondary bacterial infection, encephalitis (1:1000), subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (1:100000)

Rubella aka German Measles

  • Incubation: 14-21d, infective 5d before rash and 7d after
  • Rash: pink maculopapular, starts on face.
  • Pruritic!
  • Other symptoms: non-specific
  • Treatment: supportive
  • Complications: congenital rubella syndrome (very bad*), first four months of pregnancy highest risk (this is why we check rubella immunity status in prenatal screening)

* Congenital Rubella Syndrome
“Blueberry muffin baby” (purpura). Cataracts/congenital glaucoma, congenital heart disease, hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice, microcephaly, developmental delay

Fifth Disease aka Erythema Infectiosum

  • Incubation: 4-14d, infective prior to onset of rash
  • Rash: slapped cheeks (raised uniform maculopapular lesions on cheeks), may appear on extensor surfaces
  • Usually not pruritic
  • Other symptoms: flu-like illness ~3d prior to rash
  • Treatment: supportive, blood transfusions if aplastic crisis
  • Complications: arthritis (10%), vasculitis
    • Aplastic crisis: reticulocytopenia, not bad in normal people, very bad anemia if you already have chronic hemolytic anemia
    • During pregnancy: fetal hydrops/fetal loss

* This is a good one to actually know the virus name! PARVOVIRUS B19

Other rash descriptors to think about

  • Sandpaper rash: scarlet fever (Group A Strep), they also have strawberry tongue, fever and sore throat
  • Pink macules with central clearing: erythema marginatum (one of the major Jones criteria for rheumatic fever)
  • Palpable purpura: Henoch-Schonlein Purpura
  • Non-blanching petechiae: BAD (meningococcal disease), could be other things too, but need to rule out meningitis

Leopold Maneuvers

Leopold Maneuvers are a slick series of abdominal palpations that let you determine which way the baby is facing in a pregnant woman.

It’s akin to palm reading, but cooler and more accurate. With the four maneuvers you can figure out which part of the baby is facing towards the pelvis (presentation aka bum first/breach or head first/cephalic), if it’s facing to the right or left and how far it is into the pelvis (engagement).

Skilled physicians can even estimate the weight based on Leopold maneuvers.

Direct and indirect antibody tests

direct antibody Test

Looks for the presence of IgG and/or complement on the RBCs. This causes hemolysis and can be due to an autoimmune disease, transfusion reaction, etc.

Indirect antibody Test

This is used when cross-matching people for a blood transfusion. It tests patients for the presence of unexpected alloantibodies (anti-D, anti-E, anti-C, anti-Kell, anti-Duffy). This is just a screen, if it is positive, you can then test for specific antibodies and then only transfuse blood that is negative for those specific antigens.

* 19/06/2013 Please excuse the doodle for saying “agglutination” though it is testing by agglutinating, the “A” in DAT stands for antibody. Thanks Robina for pointing this out!

Placenta Previa

Placenta previa isn’t generally something that is a concern in the western world, since prenatal ultrasounds are common practice, but in areas of the world where they’re not, it can be pretty devastating when the baby is being delivered.