Tag Archives: rash

Maculopapular Childhood Rashes

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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

Kawasaki Disease

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Kawasaki Disease is one of the pediatric rashes that you always need to have in the back of your mind. Most of the time the disease is self-limiting, but the consequences of not catching it are pretty bad (turns out coronary artery aneurysms often lead to things like infarction and DEATH).

Warm CREAM is an unrelated (and somewhat unpleasant) mnemonic to help remember the signs and symptoms of Kawasaki. The “warm” is a fever (one lasting more than 5d) and then you need 4/5 of the other criteria (non-purulent conjunctivitis, rash, palmar erythema/swelling, cervical adenopathy, dry and red mucous membranes, the infamous strawberry tongue). The kid doesn’t need all 4 as he or she is sitting in front of you, but the presentation and the history combined should include those criteria.

Treatment is with high doses ASA and IVIG, you do this to prevent the sequelae of coronary artery aneurysms and myocarditis, and it’s best to get an echo to check up on things.

Hand, foot and mouth syndrome (coxsackie virus)

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Hand, foot and mouth syndrome (or disease to all you lay people out there) is a common viral illness, most often caused by coxsackie virus. Generally it affects daycare-aged children (the 1-10ish age group), mostly under the age of 6. The big thing is the fever with a rash on, you guessed it, the palms, soles and in the mouth. Sometimes the rash can also present on the trunk or back as well. The worst part is that the vesicles in the mouth are VERY painful, so it’s not uncommon for kids to want to stop eating or drinking when they have it.

Hypersensitivities (type I, II, III, IV, V)

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The types of hypersensitivities can get a little confusing, especially 2, 3, and 5.

Type 1: Plain old allergy (asthma, anaphylaxis, atopy)
Type 2: Antibody-dependent, cytotoxic (think of autoimmune hemolytic anemia)
Type 3: Immune complex disease (like a lot of the autoimmune conditions: rheumatoid, lupus)
Type 4: Delayed/Cell-Mediated (mediated by T cells, T cells are slower to react than antibodies, so this reaction takes a couple days)
Type 5: Receptor-mediated autoimmune disease (Graves, myasthenia gravis)