Archives of disease in childhood
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Markers for bacterial infection in children with fever without source.
To compare the diagnostic properties of procalcitonin (PCT), C reactive protein (CRP), total white blood cells count (WBC), absolute neutrophil count (ANC) and clinical evaluation to detect serious bacterial infection (SBI) in children with fever without source. ⋯ The study data demonstrate that CRP, PCT, WBC and ANC had almost similar diagnostic properties and were superior to clinical evaluation in predicting SBI in children aged 1 month to 3 years.