The protocol we may follow in such situations is to chart the fever 4 hourly and provide paracetamol to the patient for relief from the fever. However in most instances in the community patients end up getting antibiotics. It is the uncertainty in diagnosis of fevers, particularly the inability to distinguish a harmless viral fever from a debilitating salmonella, that compels many physicians in the developing world to blindly start antibiotics.

This patient (on face to face interviewing of his parents who had come to PCMS, Bhopal for another reason) too had received some antibiotic and his fever subsided the day after perhaps unfortunately strengthening the notion that the recovery may have had something to do with the use of the antibiotic.

best wishes,
ArogyaUDHC team

PS: Rakesh Biswas is morally and legally responsible for this suggestion and ArogyaUDHC team is working under the hypothesis that informational support (such as this) for the patient and local physician is likely to be beneficial toward achieving better health outcomes."