Fever In Children

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Fever is one of the most common reasons for children to visit the clinic or hospital. Fever itself is not an illness, and is not a diagnosis. Rather, it is a sign or symptom of sickness. Fever is a sign that the body’s defense system is trying to fight an infection, by enhancing the immune response towards the infection.

Besides infection, fever can be due to less common conditions such as autoimmune conditions (SLE, rheumatoid arthritis), inflammatory diseases (Kawasaki disease) and also malignancy (leukemia).

Temperature is the measurement of the degree of fever. It will vary with age, activity and time of day. Everyone has his or her own internal “thermostat” (hypothalamus in the brain) that regulates body temperature. A normal body temperature is around 98.6°F plus or minus about 1°F (37°C, plus or minus about 0.6°C). Fever is a result of the changes in the hypothalamic “thermostat” set-point, due to the conditions mentioned earlier. Generally, fever of less than 40.5°C is in itself not harmful, only if the level is above 41 to 42°C (called hyperpyrexia) will it have adverse physiological effects.