The Division of Infectious Diseases (ID) at Boston Children’s Hospital provides consultative care for evaluation and treatment of a broad range of infectious diseases in both the inpatient hospital setting and in our outpatient clinics. Our inpatient clinical teams care for patients with common childhood infections, patients in the intensive care unit or part of surgical services, immunocompromised patients, and many other children and adolescents in need of ID expertise as a part of their multidisciplinary medical care.
The Boston Children’s Hospital ID Outpatient Practice provides outpatient consultative evaluation and treatment to children and adolescents with any infectious disease, ranging from common childhood infections in healthy children to unusual, often chronic infections in immunocompromised patients. Our outpatient staff, including several faculty physicians and nurse practitioners, are experienced infectious diseases providers with deep subspecialty expertise in a variety of conditions. Our practitioners work closely with referring providers and other subspecialists to provide diagnostic and treatment plans based on current best practice guidelines, practice experience, and individual patient needs.
Our clinical services and programs include:
In the Boston Children’s Hospital General Infectious Diseases Clinic, we see patients with a variety of conditions, including but not limited to the following:
- acute community-acquired infections
- recurrent and complicated ear and respiratory infections
- Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections
- recurrent skin infections, including due to MRSA
- bone and joint infections
- hardware-associated infections
- recurrent herpes simplex virus infections
- tuberculosis and other mycobacterial infections
- post-surgical infections
- infections associated with international travel
- recurrent fevers
Through the Boston Children’s Hospital OPAT (Outpatient Parenteral Antibiotic Therapy) and Long-term Antimicrobial Therapy Clinic, we manage treatment of infections requiring home antibiotic therapy. Our expert nurse practitioners closely collaborate with home care pharmacies and visiting nurses to ensure a smooth transition from hospitalization to home IV therapy, monitor weekly labs, and facilitate IV line removal at the end of therapy. Regular visits with the ID care team are an important part of our OPAT management, and a member of our staff is on call 24/7 for questions should they arise. We offer similar services for patients requiring long-term oral antibiotic therapy.
The Boston Children’s Hospital Post-COVID-19 Clinic was established to respond to the needs of children and adolescents with ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 infection. This multidisciplinary effort has brought together specialists from a variety of areas, including Infectious Diseases, Cardiology, Pulmonology, Rheumatology, Neurology, Gastroenterology, Otorhinolaryngology, the Pain Treatment Center, and the Pediatric Diagnostic Program, to provide evaluation and treatment recommendations in an integrated manner. Evaluation in the PASC starts with an initial appointment to establish an individual patient’s needs, followed by expedited referral to core specialists in other areas. Common referring symptoms in patients seen in the Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Clinic include fatigue, brain fog/memory issues, shortness of breath, muscle and joint aches, and prolonged disturbances of taste and smell.
The Boston Children’s Hospital Immunocompromised Hosts (ICH) Infectious Diseases clinic provides consultative care for children and adolescents with underlying medication conditions or receiving treatments that lead to a suppressed immune system, including patients with primary immunodeficiencies, patients with oncologic diagnoses, and those undergoing solid organ or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We work closely with our colleagues in immunology, hematology/oncology, and the Pediatric Transplant Center to evaluate and manage a broad range of infections that occur in immunocompromised patients. We additionally conduct pre-transplant and post-transplant infectious diseases evaluations to ensure that immunizations and other preventative therapies are optimized prior to and after transplantation. Our providers offer tailored guidance for families regarding specific infectious disease exposures, general infection prevention advice, and strategies for immunizations to enable the health and safety of our immunocompromised patients. We additionally offer travel planning visits to provide immunization recommendations based on areas of travel and infection prevention/safety counseling.
The Node Assessment Program at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center provides multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of lymphadenopathy, a condition characterized by persistent swelling of the lymph nodes. Ours is the first program of its kind in New England offering second opinions, accepting referrals, and consulting with other physicians to determine the cause, severity, and most appropriate treatments for swollen lymph nodes. Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s is an integrated pediatric hematology and oncology partnership between Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. We offer, in one specialized program, the full spectrum of services that are needed for diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care of even the rarest and hard-to-treat conditions.
Treatment teams in the Node Assessment Program are composed of physicians and surgeons who specialize in diagnosing and treating lymphadenopathy. They are supported by pediatric radiologists, pathologists, hematologists, oncologists, otolaryngologists, infectious disease specialists, allergists, and other health-care professionals to ensure the most accurate diagnosis and most appropriate treatment.
Our full-service clinic, which includes indoor parking, a cafeteria, and overnight facilities, is conveniently located in Waltham, 15 miles from Boston, with easy access from major highways:
Boston Children's Waltham
9 Hope Avenue
Waltham, MA 02453
To request an appointment, call 617-355-4503 or email. Appointments are scheduled by the end of the day. You can also learn more about our Node Assessment Program on the Dana-Farber/Boston Children's website.
Learn more about the Boston Children's Hospital AIDS Program.
The Perinatal Diagnostics Clinic (PDC) at Boston Children’s Hospital serves to facilitate diagnostic evaluation and treatment for infants who develop infections in utero or at the time of birth. Providers care for infants who may have infections with or be exposed to cytomegalovirus, hepatitis C, syphilis, herpes simplex virus, toxoplasmosis, and others. This multidisciplinary program enables comprehensive assessment for neurologic symptoms, hearing and vision screening, and treatment monitoring. Our infectious diseases providers also consult with maternal-fetal medicine providers during the prenatal period to offer seamless guidance and collaborative care for mothers and infants.