Bacterial or Viral Infection? Genetic Testing May Hold the Answer

Differentiating bacterial from viral infections in febrile infants and young children is a persistent quest of clinicians who evaluate sick children. Guidelines for antibiotic administration have relied on surrogate markers, such as white blood cell count (WBC) and C-reactive protein (CRP) level. Two multicenter studies investigated whether the detection of host gene activation could differentiate between bacterial and viral infection in febrile infants and young children.

One study prospectively measured host gene expression using microarray techniques in 240 febrile children (median age, 19 months), of whom 22% had definite bacterial infection (69% required intensive care) and 38% had definite viral infection (35% required intensive care).…