20/06/2018
Let's Cool You Down: A Paediatrician's Guide In Managing A Child With Fever
Fever is very common in children and understandably causes serious concern for parents. Normal body temperature naturally varies following a warm bath or exercising however, as a general rule of thumb, a body temperature over 38c (100.3f) is classified as a fever. It is one of the most common reasons why children and their parents seek medical attention. It is typically caused by an infection, most commonly in the UK a virus. However, there are other common causes such as an infection caused by bacterial germs, vaccine immunisation or more rarely, inflammatory conditions such as Kawasaki disease. Now having mentioned some causes, it answers the common question asked by many anxious parents in that “why can’t you just prescribe antibiotics”. Well the simple answer to this is that GP doctors are reluctant in giving antibiotics since they have no role in combating the commonest cause of a fever, that is a virus, but rather work only by killing bacterial germs.
