What could cause persistent pneumonia and hydrocele in a 6-year-old child?

Question

Hello doctor,

I have a 6-year-old boy has asthma, and takes Singulair and Albuterol when needed. He also has had croup a lot and hydrocele for which he underwent surgery, but noticed not too long afterward that his belly looked swollen, kinda tough not flabby which later went away and came back with hydrocele again. He ended up with pneumonia twice four months back. His hydrocele and belly swelling had gone back to normal. The next month he caught up with the flu and the hydrocele came back a week later. He now has pneumonia again and hydrocele. Protein is found in his urine and very low protein in the blood. Belly also looks a little swollen or chubbier than usual but cannot really tell. The doctor referred him to a kidney specialist for protein. I just wanted to know why he has gotten sick so much and still no answers on why his belly was swollen before. I also do not know if I need to see a lung specialist for him. Please help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and can understand your concern.

Quite a confusing manner of events that have happened to your child here. However here are the following points that I can make out from your history:

1. Weight of 69.9 lbs for a 6-year-old is fine which shows that the child is not chronically ill and all these events are just by coincidence at once.

2. Urine protein levels may be high in urine infection so do not worry.

3. The frequency of pneumonia in this child is very high which may be more likely due to infections due to poor immunity. But this fact is overshadowed by the fact that the child has a good weight so must be good immunologically. So this infers that we may be dealing with something else other than infection.

4. Another likelihood case that I may suspect could be cystic fibrosis but rarely. It may be difficult to say as per history and will require detailed examination and evaluation with testing.

Hope this helps.

Thank you.