Suggest treatment for severe cough, wheezing and fever in an infant
Patient: Hi my 5 month old and 7 year old were taken to the dr last tuesday for coughing and wheezing they both had same symptoms but the cough has been there forever it seems like but now they both have raspy coughs with flem and the dr said there was wheezing he put them both on a steroid and a inhaler til cough is gone he said it would be about 4 to 5 days ...well the cough is still there and now my 5 month old is running a fever of 101.8 what do I do Doctor: Hi...it seems to me like both your kids are down with the same virus and this is causing wheezing and it is viral associated wheeze. Your pediatrician was right in staring  steroid and inhaler. Fever of few days without any localizing signs could as well a viral illness. Usually rather than fever, what is more important is the activity of the child, in between 2 fever episodes on the same day. If the kid is active and playing around when there is no fever, it is probably viral illness and it doesn't require antibiotics at all. Once viral fever comes it will there for 4-7 days. So do not worry about duration if the kid is active.Paracetamol can be given in the dose of 15mg/kg/dose (Maximum ceiling dose 500mg per dose) every 4-6th hourly that too only if fever is more than 100F. I suggest not using combination medicines for fever, especially with Paracetamol.Regards - Dr. Sumanth