Child Fever
In A Child, Fever Can Be A Cause For Concern
In a child, fever can be a sign of viral infection such as a cold or influenza, or if accompanied by other signs or symptoms, one of the more common children's diseases. If the child has a high fever, a fever that will not respond to fever reducing medicines, or a fever accompanied by extreme discomfort of any kind, a doctor should be called at once. A temperature approaching 105 degrees is always considered to be a sign of something very serious, requiring immediate medical attention.
A fever is a good thing in one sense, it is a warning that the body is fighting off an infection, or an infectious disease. The presence of a fever in a child therefore is a signal that either the child needs to be placed under care at home, visit the doctor, or in occasional instances, be taken to the hospital.
Temperatures are traditionally taken orally, but small children, and in particular infants, usually cannot, or will not, keep a thermometer in their mouth or under their tongue for the required length of time. A rectal thermometer may then be needed, or the temperature can also be taken under the armpit. In these cases, a temperature reading of one degree lower will commonly be the case, so add one degree to your reading to get a more accurate idea of the child's true temperature. 98.6 degrees is the body's normal temperature. Any temperature 1 degree or more above normal is called a fever.
In a very young child fever can be a sign of infection. If the fever in an infant up to two months of age is over 100 degrees, a doctor should be called, as this could be the sign of a serious infection. For older children, a fever of up to 102 degrees (but no higher) is generally tolerable, and often accompanies a viral infection such as a cold, influenza, viral gastroenteritis, or signals the beginning stages of one of the more common children's diseases, such as chicken pox, mumps, or measles. The accompanying symptoms for these children's diseases will be blisters, swelling around the jaw, or a rash or bumps, respectively.
It seems there's always plenty going on in a youngster's life, so for a child, fever does not always mean that something significant is wrong. Teething can result in a fever, as can a reaction to an immunization, and there are always mild viruses of one type or another in the vicinity. Still, if a fever persists, or starts to increase, medical attention should not be put off. In extreme cases, where the child is suffering headaches and vomiting, meningitis is a strong possibility, and chills and chest pains can indicate pneumonia. In either case these symptoms constitute an emergency.