Mystery Case Monday: Disease from the Day Care

Welcome back to Mystery Case Monday! We will be posting a hypothetical case every week to get our pre-health students thinking about various clinical issues and the anatomical/physiological causes that underlie them. Join us in the comments section to share your insights and tentative diagnoses, then check back on Friday to read about the diagnosis and recommended treatments of these cases.

This week's hypothetical patient is a 7-month-old girl whose mother brings her to a day care at her

high school, where the mother is a senior student planning to graduate in a few months. The baby has been coughing, has a runny nose, red eyes, and is running a fever. Upon examination, the pediatrician finds small, red spots with blue-white centers inside the infant's mouth. The pediatrician orders a blood test for the infant and asks the mother where she takes her child for day care. After the pediatrician's suspicions are confirmed by the results of the blood test, the pediatrician calls the day care to issue a quarantine recommendation. She administers an injection of immune serum globulin to the child and tells the mother to keep the baby on fluids, use acetaminophen and cool compresses to help control the fever, and to keep the baby away from others for a week. She also tells the mother that the baby will likely develop a rash and may take several weeks to get better. They had a lengthy discussion about how to care for the infant over the next few weeks, then scheduled a follow-up appointment.

Thought Questions:

What is the most likely diagnosis for this patient?

What causes this condition? How is it prevented?

Why did the pediatrician issue a quarantine recommendation? How is this condition spread to others?

How is this condition typically treated?

Leave your comments below and check back on Friday to see how our hypothetical patient was diagnosed!