Pharyngoconjunctival Fever (PCF) Differential Diagnoses

Updated: Apr 16, 2021
  • Author: Ingrid U Scott, MD, MPH; Chief Editor: Hampton Roy, Sr, MD  more...
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DDx

Diagnostic Considerations

Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis

Vernal keratoconjunctivitis

Punctate keratitis, although not frequent, may develop a few days to a week after the onset of symptoms. The keratitis progresses through stages characterized by an orderly sequence of superficial epithelial keratitis, deep epithelial keratitis, and subepithelial infiltrates. Superficial epithelial keratitis begins as small epithelial dots that stain with fluorescein. Deep epithelial keratitis is characterized by focal epithelial and subepithelial whitish lesions that may stain and subepithelial infiltrates that characteristically do not stain.

Although the entire illness usually is acute and transient, resolving over a few days to 3 weeks, subepithelial infiltrates may persist for several months, and, if in the visual axis, they may cause glare and decreased visual acuity.

Differential Diagnoses