[A rare cause of febrile polyadenopathy in children: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease].

Kikuchi disease is a histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis revealed by cervical lymphadenopathy and prolonged fever. It occurs predominantly in young Asian women. The pathophysiology is unknown; the main hypothesis is an autoimmune process. Although the disease usually resolves spontaneously in a few weeks or months, it may progress to systemic lupus erythematosus. Kikuchi disease is rare in children, but it should be considered a potential diagnosis in case of polyadenopathy. We relate a case of Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease in a 13-year-old boy with sickle-cell anemia. The diagnosis, which was established after 3 weeks of hospitalization, enabled us to avoid unnecessary extensive investigations and prolonged empirical treatments that may result in unintended adverse side effects.