Services Offered

Comprehensive Inpatient and Outpatient Services

Our doctors offer expert inpatient care and consultations for children with a wide range of infectious diseases and immunologic disorders including:

• Blood infections
• HIV/AIDS
• Respiratory infections
• Pneumonia
• Skin and soft tissue infections
• Other illnesses, such as cancer, transplantation or heart disease, complicated by acute infections

Our knowledgeable, caring staff also provides a variety of outpatient services to meet your child's needs. An outpatient clinic, which meets three days a week, provides support for families of children on outpatient IV antibiotics, which require monitoring for safety and effectiveness. These children may suffer from certain infections, such as bone and joint infections, which require long-term monitoring.

Care for Children Traveling Abroad

If your family is traveling abroad, our doctors can provide advice on foreign travel precautions as well as vaccinations for your child in our Travel Clinic. Our infectious disease specialists also offer consultations through the International Adoption Clinic at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. This clinic--the only one of its kind for children in Chicago--is designed to meet the special needs of families adopting children internationally.

Outpatient Care for Children with HIV

Outpatient care is also available for children and teens with HIV/AIDS. The Chicago Comer Children's Hospital is one of only three sites in Chicago that receives government funding through the National Institutes of Health. More than 400 children and adults have received comprehensive HIV care at the University of Chicago Hospitals, thanks to these funds. In addition, our WATCH (Women's Access to Comprehensive HealthCare) Program makes a full range of vital medical services available to teens and adult women who are exposed to HIV.

Since 1990, our Pediatric and Adolescent HIV Care Team has provided comprehensive medical and social services to children and teens affected by HIV. Our outpatient HIV clinic provides state-of-the-art medical care using a coordinated team approach. This includes timely, accurate diagnosis of HIV as well as the latest treatment options for young people with the disease. Our expertise in the newest combination therapies for patients can help control the disease and help many young people lead normal lives as they grow older.

Comprehensive care is also available for pregnant women with HIV. With appropriate medical care, a pregnant woman with HIV has a less than 2 percent chance of delivering a child with HIV infection. Care and counseling is also available to reduce the risk of HIV during breastfeeding.

Confidential HIV counseling, testing, and support groups for adolescents with HIV are also available. We provide HIV education through formal monthly health education sessions. In addition, three support groups are available. Two of the support groups meet monthly and are geared toward caregivers, affected family members, youth, and young adults. The third support group is a weekly support group held for HIV-positive women.