Background: Febrile infants under 60 days-old undergo extensive evaluation for infection. Recent AAP guidelines recommend evaluation of the procalcitonin (PCT) level in the work-up of febrile infants 8-60 days-old to aid in predicting bacterial infection (BI) due to its high specificity; however, the sensitivity of PCT is relatively low. Recent literature has identified the Procalcitonin-To-Albumin [...]

Background: Due to their widespread availability, inflammatory markers are used with increasing frequency, often concurrently, without adding any diagnostic or clinical benefit1,2. While unnecessary labs do not offer any additional benefit, they can be a significant source of physical and emotional distress to patients and their families3-5. In an era that emphasizes high-value, low-cost medical [...]

Case Presentation: A 55-year-old woman with no known past medical issues is admitted with a 1-week history of weakness and two days of fever and chills. Workup showed WBC count was 15600/µL, C-reactive protein of 14.3 mg/dL, procalcitonin of less than 0.05 ng/mL, and lactate of 0.7 mmol/L. Since procalcitonin was negative and there was [...]