A 16-month-old male toddler is carried into the acute care clinic by his father because he has been completely unwilling to stand or bear weight on his legs since yesterday evening. The father states that the child was previously healthy and recently started attending a new daycare center. Over the past 24 hours, the toddler has become increasingly irritable, refuses to eat, and feels very warm to the touch. Vital signs show a heart rate of 138/min, respiratory rate of 26/min, and a temperature of 39.3°C (102.7°F). On physical examination, the child cries inconsolably when the physician attempts passive range of motion of the right lower extremity. The right hip is held in a rigidly flexed, abducted, and externally rotated position. Laboratory testing reveals a leukocyte count of 17,200/mm³ and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of 72 mm/hr. Which of the following represents the most appropriate immediate management for this patient?
- Immediate joint aspiration followed by intravenous antimicrobial therapyCevap
- BInitiation of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and close outpatient observation
- CInitiation of broad-spectrum antimicrobial therapy alone without synovial fluid sampling
- DTransportation to the radiology suite for a computed tomography scan of the pelvis
- EReassurance to the father that this transient refusal to walk is an expected phase of gross motor development