Fever in Children

Common Causes

1. Viral infection (most common)
2. Bacterial Infection
3. Auto-immune & Malignancy (least common)

What defines a fever?

Fever in children is defined as temperature > 37.5 Degrees

• 37.5 - 38 Degrees (Low Grade Fever)

• > 38.5 Degrees (High Grade Fever)

4 categories of fever symptoms

• Fever with flu symptoms: eg cough, runny and blocked nose, sore throat ( URTI )
• Fever with gastrointestinal symptoms: eg. Vomiting, abdominal pain or bloatedness, diarrhoea (Gastroenteritis )
• Fever with rash: eg. HFMD ( mouth ulcers ), chickenpox, dengue
• Fever with no obvious signs: urinary tract infection, other causes

Home remedies to bring down fever

• Hydration
• Loose clothing and adequate ventilation
• Sponging with room temperature water
• Fever medications eg. Paracetamol and Brufen ( if no drug allergy )

When to bring child to doctor

• Febrile seizure
• Drowsy, less responsive than before
• Persistent vomiting - unable to drink any water
• Very young < 6 months old
• Reduced urine output
• Breathlessness or wheezing
• Abdominal pain

What to do in even of Febrile seizure

Need to first recognise the symptoms

1. Child will suddenly become unresponsive
2. Most of the time there will be jerking movements of hands and legs - sometimes none ( they are
   simply just not responding to you )
3. Eyes uprolling sometime)
4. Uncontrolled urination or passing motion (sometimes)

what you should to do

• Place child in a safe environment - lie child on
  the floor, remove all dangerous objects nearby.
• If possible, lie them on their side so that any saliva or vomitus can come out from the of their mouth.
• Keep track of the duration of the seizure - call 995 if > 5 minutes or if the child developed 2 or more seizures consecutively