Periodic fever associated with aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis and cervical adenitis — or PFAPA — is the most common periodic fever disease in children, characterized by monthly flare-ups of fever, accompanied by sore throat, swollen glands and mouth lesions.

Children with PFAPA syndrome experience attacks of fever, each lasting three to six days, usually three to eight weeks apart. Their predictability is so regular that parents have been known to make pediatric appointments a week ahead of when they expect their child to experience a PFAPA episode. Affected children experience their first attack before the age of 5, with fever episodes usually abating in adolescence or young adulthood. The only remedy for PFAPA, besides corticosteroids, is removal of an affected child’s tonsils, which has a good rate of success in eliminating PFAPA syndrome, but is an invasive alternative.

• Pediatrician or other primary care doctor
• Otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor)
• Rheumatologist (autoimmune disease specialist)