I t’s a very cold February, but ED is very hot in every sense of the word.
A 22 y/o student refers stomach pain, chills, fever and diffuse muscolar pain. He has fever (38° C) there is a mild diffuse abdominal pain.
The CRP value is 30 mg/L.
Are there flu symptoms, or it is a bacteremia?

Can we use the CRP test for change our clinical suspicion?

Conclusion

CRP is the most used biomarker of infections.
Last year we saw that a normal CRP doesn’t esclude an abdominal positive CT.
News under the sun? No!
We can’t consider alone a normal CRP like a marker for rule out a bacteriaemia. At the same time an elevated CRP is not useful alone to prescribe antibiotic therapy.

Bibliography

NG Adams
Diagnostic use of C-reactive protein in bacteraemic emergency department patients.
Emerg Med Austral 2005 17, 371-5.

JL Vincent
Biomarkers in the critically ill patient: C-reactive protein.
Crit Care Clin 2011 27 241-251

YE Ha
Usefulness of C-Reactive Protein for evaluating clinical outcomes in cirrhotic patients with bacteremia.
Kor J Intern Med june 2011 26 (2) 195-200