What causes persistent fever, numbness in toes, fatigue and tachycardia?

Posted on Sat, 21 May 2016

Question: hello doc,

I worked with a child with cmv, could it be I was exposed?

urinary track infection
yellow discharge
fever
soar throat
pain on left leg
numbness started in toes then quickly to fingers
tachycardia
depression
fatigue
rashes that disappear in 1 day
thirst dry mouth
unsteady gait on and off
red eye
sore in nose
fever blister due to oregano oil that burned my mouth
hand burning sensation

What could this be? its been 3 months! Thank you.

Answered by Dr. Muhammad Hanif (6 hours later)

Brief Answer:
PCR for CMV is needed right away !

Detailed Answer:
I warmly Welcome you to HCM!

If a person is having no issues with immune system (immunocompetent) and is infected with CMV, very little to no symptoms are elicited in that case. But in Immunocompromised individuals (having low immune system) there are a lot of symptoms. And yes, much of your symptoms look like it is a viral infection.

I suspect here some STD too if not previously ruled out and screened for. I will suggest to ask your treating physician to screen you for Sexually transmitted diseases especially if you are sexually active.

Diagnostics needed specifically :-

My suggestion is to go for an in-person evaluation by an Infectious Diseases Specialist and ask him to go for CMV DNA Real-Time-PCR Qualitative and Quantitative test to find out if infected and assess the viral load.

If found positive for virus, your Physician will go for proper management accordingly. It is based on Antivirals (preferably Ganciclovir). Other remedies are based on symptoms e.g associated eye infection if any (retinitis) may be treated accordingly.

Hope it helps. Feel free to please add a follow-up query here if you need further assistance.

In future, ask me a query directly from my profile if needed .

Regards!

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee