Prolonged, recurrent and periodic fever — branching viva

Opening

Examiner: How do you classify childhood fever that is prolonged, recurrent or periodic? ^[1]

Candidate: Three patterns. A single continuous illness beyond 7 to 14 days is prolonged fever, or fever of unknown origin. Several discrete episodes with the child well between is recurrent fever. Periodic fever is the subset where attacks recur at clockwork, stereotyped intervals. The pattern — not the height of the fever — drives the diagnosis, so I pattern it first before I order tests. ^[1]