6 year old son with a rash

My 6 year old son has a rash on his upper body..stomach, back, under arms and shoulders. He started out on last thursday with itchy watery eyes runny nose. On Friday he had a stuffy nose and puffy red eyes.. that night i noticed he had a spot on his shoulder that did not blanch. On Saturday he had several spots on his stomach shoulders back and under arms. I took him to his pediatrician and they thought it has something to do with meningitis. They called it a petechia rash. They took his blood count and urine which both came back normal. Also they did a blood culture to make sure he didnt have bacteria in his blood and that came back negative! They did give him a antibiotic shot and also prescribed amoxicilin 2 times a day just to make sure before we got the blood test results back.  On Monday they wanted to see him again. I took him back in and they tested his urine and blood count. Once again they came back normal. This time they wanted to take more blood to test all of his organs but I wouldnt allow it. They told me to stop the antibiotic because there was no bacteria found. Tuesday he had diarreha which I believe was from the antibiotic that he didnt need. They said to just keep an eye out on him and see if any more spots show up and that he was allowed to go to school so Wed. he went to school and that night I noticed he was getting more spots on his back and stomach so thursday I brought him to his pedatrician once again and he did a blood count that came back normal. He said that most likely it has to do with a virus and that it looks like vasculitis which will start to go away in one week. I looked up vasculitis and I have not found anything good about it. I am really worried because more spots keep appearing. My son is acting completely normal. He is eating the same and doing the same everyday activities. It has been one whole week since these spots have appeared and more just keep appearing instead of starting to go away!! I asked his doctor if I should take him to see a dermatoldgist but he doesnt think that is necessary...what are my options now?? Is this a virus?? Could this still be something serious???

[carcrazy]

Has your son been coughing, laughing or straining a lot? It would probably be best to let them do full blood tests, I know its not nice seeing your child get stuck with needles but sometimes its justified. If you do allow it ask them to test all the clotting factors as well, not just factor 8.

When I was a child i was bruising really easily and had a non blanching rash a couple of times that made my Dr and parents fear leukaemia, it wasn't that and I was treated instead for anaemia. I was in my mid 20's before anyone did clotting tests and it turns out I have a form of haemophilia. I'm low in clotting factor 8, 9 and 11. Coughing, laughing too much, straining (when giving birth, picking up heavy objects etc) all lead to lots of tiny little bleeds that present as a non blanching rash.

It may be nothing like that but at least you've got it covered if you request it.

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
From the symptoms it looks like a viral rash or pityriasis rosea. Pityriasis rosea is a common human skin disease which presents as numerous patches of pink or red oval rash. The rash may be accompanied by low-grade headache, fever, nausea and fatigue and itching. Topical and oral steroids are needed. Water, sweat, and soap may cause irritation and should be avoided in the disease. Topical zinc oxide and calamine lotion are useful for pruritus.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.