1. FEVER

• High or low grade
• Longer than 30 days
• Continuous, intermittent (on and off), or occasional
• Did the fever rise every day
• Low body temperature
• Associated with: headache; burning sensation while passing urine; neck stiffness; irritated and does not like light or sound; confusion; drowsiness; coma; rash/blisters

2. BREATHING PROBLEMS

• What brings it on (for example, allergy or chest infection)
• Progression: did the person feel breathlessness only during exertion? Did it progressively worsen so that breathlessness occurred also at rest?
• Is breathlessness worse after lying flat, and relieved by sitting up?
• Was breathlessness continuous or in episodes/attacks
• Associated with: night sweats; evening rise of temperature; vomiting; hoarseness of voice

3. COUGH

• Dry, wet (with sputum), bloody (rusty), or foul smelling
• Longer than 30 days
• Worse during day or night
• With wheezing or in-­drawing of chest (use local language)?
• Any pain during cough or deep breath
• Any pain at the sides of the chest wall
• Associated with: night sweats; evening rise of temperature; vomiting; hoarse voice

4. DIARRHOEA/DYSENTERY IN STOOLS

• Stools liquid or semisolid
• Did stools contain mucus, or look like rice water?
• Longer than 30 days
• Painless or painful
• Large quantity or not
• Blood in the stool, red or black in colour
• How many times a day at worst?
• Associated with: vomiting; very thirsty; dehydration sunken eyes; reduced urine amount. Note: mothers of breastfed infants tend to report children with soft/loose stools, so it is important to ask if soft and loose stools were MORE FREQUENT than usual
  

5. JAUNDICE

• What become yellow: eyes or skin; was urine dark yellow/brown?
• Onset: yellowness came first followed by other illness OR illness came first followed by yellowness
• Associated with: fast breathing; excessive crying; chest in-drawing; vomiting blood

6. SEIZURES/ FITS

• Previous episodes of sudden jerky movements of arms or legs
• Loss of consciousness
• Awake between fits or not
• Associated with: rolling of eye balls; frothing of mouth; loss of memory; bit tongue; bed wetting; confused; history of head injury

7. DISCOLORATION OF LIPS, HAND AND LEGS

• Bleeding into eyes and skin
• Location: lips, hands, or legs
• Was discoloration blue or red?
• Associated with: bulging fontanel or drowsiness, scalp injuries, spasm of body

8. WEIGHT LOSS

• Loss of weight rapid in last 2-3 months
• Associated with prolonged fever for more than 1 month (either constant or continuous)
• Diarrhoea for more than 1 month
• Persistent cough for more than 1 month
• Swelling in arm pits, neck, groin
• Itching and skin rash
• White sores or white patches in mouth
• History of tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS

9. OEDEMA/SWELLING

• Location: hands, feet, abdomen, or elsewhere
• Onset: sudden or gradual
• Worse at night or morning
• Associated with: worse with walking; fatigue; feeling heart beat faster; nausea; appetite loss