Fever is an abnormal elevation of body temperature that occurs as part of a specific biologic response that is mediated and controlled by the central nervous system

The temperature elevation that may prompt clinical investigation for infection depends upon the age of the child and the clinical circumstances

●In the otherwise healthy infant younger than three months of age, fever of concern generally is defined by rectal temperature ≥38.0°C (100.4°F). (

●In children 3 to 36 months, fever generally is defined by rectal temperatures ranging from ≥38.0 to 39.0°C (100.4 to 102.2°F) and fever of concern by rectal temperatures ≥39.0°C (102.2°F) if there is no focus of infection on examination.

●In older children and adults, fever may be defined by oral temperatures ranging from ≥37.8 to 39.4°C (100.0 to 103.0°F).

Fever is an inflammatory response and have a role in fighting infection. However,there is positive and negative impact :

●Potential benefits :

retardation of the growth and reproduction of some bacteria and viruses and enhanced immunologic function at moderately elevated temperatures.

●Potential harms :

Fever can make patients uncomfortable. It is associated with increased metabolic rate, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, and demands on the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. For the normal child, these stresses are of little or no consequence. However, for very ill child or one with other associate medical conditions as in shock or for the child with a pulmonary or cardiac abnormality, the increased demands can be detrimental and may offset any immunologic benefit from the fever.

There is no evidence to suggest that fever ≥40°C (104°F) is associated with increased risk of adverse outcome as brain damage , though this is common belief by most parents .

Fever is not adiease but is a sign of underlying disease, the cause of which should be evaluated, particularly if the child is ill-appearing or the fever persists where we need to determine the cause of the fever .

Take home message to beloved parents :

●There is no evidence that fever makes the illness worse.

●Initial measures to reduce the child's temperature include good hydration and rest

●if child uncomfortable you may start antipyretic medications as paracetamol or ibuprufen according to each child status .

●degree of tempreture has no role to determine if illness is viral or bacterial .

●you don’t need to wake up up your child to give feevr medication.

●Antipyretic medications should be dosed according to weight, rather than age to minimise rish of under- or overdosing antipyretics

· Have clear instruction from doctor for medication dosing and interval

What is fever ?