When is a fever too high? What temperature is considered dangerous for a fever in children and adults? Get the answers to these questions and more in this informative article.

Understanding Fever Basics

A fever is a common symptom that indicates the body is fighting off an illness or infection. It occurs when the body’s internal temperature rises above the normal range of 97.7°F to 99.5°F. A fever is not an illness itself, but rather a sign that the body’s immune system is activated and working to combat an underlying health issue.

Fevers can be caused by a variety of conditions, including the flu, common cold, ear infections, pneumonia, skin infections, and more. In some cases, fever may also be a response to teething, immunizations, or environmental factors like high heat and humidity.

Dangerous Fever Temperatures

So, when does a fever become dangerous? The general rule of thumb is that a fever above 101°F (38.3°C) in adults or 100.4°F (38°C) in children warrants medical attention. However, the severity of the fever also depends on other symptoms present and the overall health of the individual.

Fever Thresholds for Adults

For adults, a fever is typically not considered dangerous unless it reaches 104°F (40°C) or higher. Fevers in this range may indicate a serious underlying infection or illness and should be evaluated by a healthcare provider.

Fever Thresholds for Children

Fevers tend to be more concerning in children, especially infants and young toddlers. A fever of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher in a child under 3 months old should be evaluated by a doctor immediately. For children 3 months to 3 years old, a fever of 101°F (38.3°C) or higher warrants a call to the pediatrician.

It’s important to note that a child’s temperature can fluctuate throughout the day, so taking multiple readings over time is recommended to get an accurate assessment.

When to Seek Medical Attention

In addition to the temperature thresholds, there are other signs that indicate a fever may be dangerous and require prompt medical care. Seek immediate medical attention if the fever is accompanied by:

• Severe headache or body aches
• Difficulty breathing or chest pain
• Extreme lethargy or confusion
• Persistent vomiting or diarrhea
• A rash or bruising
• Recent travel to another country
• A compromised immune system

For infants under 3 months old, any fever should be evaluated by a healthcare provider, as their immune systems are still developing.

Reducing Fever at Home

In many cases, a fever can be managed at home with rest, fluids, and over-the-counter medication like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. However, it’s important not to over-medicate, as this can mask the underlying issue. Sponge baths, cool compresses, and adjusting the environment to be cooler can also help bring down a fever without medication.

If the fever persists for more than a few days or is accompanied by severe symptoms, it’s best to seek medical attention to identify and treat the underlying cause.

Fever Management Strategies

Proper fever management is crucial to ensure the body can effectively fight off an illness or infection. Here are some key strategies to consider:

1. Monitor the fever closely, taking multiple temperature readings throughout the day.
2. Provide plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.
3. Use over-the-counter medications like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to reduce the fever, but do not exceed the recommended dosage.
4. Avoid using cold water or alcohol rubs, as these can actually increase the body’s internal temperature.
5. Dress the person in lightweight, breathable clothing and keep the room at a comfortable temperature.
6. Seek medical attention if the fever is high, persists for more than a few days, or is accompanied by severe symptoms.

By understanding the signs of a dangerous fever and taking appropriate action, individuals can effectively manage fevers and support the body’s natural healing process.

Conclusion

Fevers are a common and often necessary response to illness, but it’s important to know when a fever becomes dangerous. For adults, a fever above 104°F (40°C) warrants medical attention, while for children, any fever above 100.4°F (38°C) in infants under 3 months or 101°F (38.3°C) in children 3 months to 3 years old should be evaluated by a healthcare provider.

By monitoring fever symptoms, providing supportive care at home, and seeking medical attention when necessary, individuals can ensure that fevers are managed safely and effectively.

When Fevers Get Dangerous | iCare

Having a fever doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to visit a doctor. In fact, a fever can be a good sign because it shows that your body is fighting an illness or infection. A low-grade fever is an essential part of the immune response, and you will often feel better in a few days.

Why Does Fever Occur?

A fever isn’t an illness – it is a symptom of another health condition. Usually, the body develops a fever in response to an infection that is occurring. The illness or disease is detected, then the immune system kicks into gear to fight the virus or bacteria. This response stimulates the body’s defenses, sending out the white blood cells that are needed for protection. Fever can be caused by a variety of conditions, including:

• Flu
• Common cold
• Heatstroke
• Ear infections
• Pneumonia
• Sinus infection
• Internal infection
• Skin infection
• Bronchitis
• Urinary tract infections
• Blood clots
• Appendicitis
• Autoimmune diseases
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Cancer
• Hormone disorders
• Illegal drugs

Sometimes, fever is a temporary response to a specific cause. For example, young children often have a fever when teething or for a day or two after immunizations.

How Body Temperature Works

The average body temperature is 98.6 degrees F, but it is normal for the temperature to range between 97.7 degrees F and 99.5 degrees F throughout the day. For example, it is common for the body temperature to be higher in the evening compared to the morning. If the temperature goes above 99.5 degrees F, then it is considered a fever in both adults and children.

The body has built-in systems to maintain normal body temperature. Several organs affect temperature regulation, including the skin, brain, muscles, and blood vessels. If the body needs to cool down, then a few responses might occur:

• Sweat production increases to cool the skin
• Blood is moved closer to, or away from, the surface of the skin
• You feel the urge to move to a cooler environment
• Water in the body is retained or released through the sweat glands and urinary system

A fever is not the only factor that can increase body temperature. Heavy clothing, physical exertion, strong emotions, high heat and humidity, menstruation, and certain medications can increase body temperature. When you are taking a person’s temperature, check to ensure these other factors aren’t influencing the thermometer reading. For example, if a child has been running around, have them sit still for 20 minutes before using the thermometer to ensure you are getting an accurate reading.

Tips for Lowering a Fever

Just because a person has a mild fever, doesn’t mean that you need to be proactive in lowering the fever. Often, the best solution is to let the fever run its course by resting at home and staying hydrated. If you notice that the fever is increasing in severity, then these are a few things that can be done at home to see if the fever can be managed without medical treatment:

• Take a lukewarm bath (not cold water)
• Place a cool washcloth on the forehead
• Use over-the-counter acetaminophen, according to dosage directions on the package. Choose children’s brand medication for young members of your family.
• Adjust the thermostat in the house
• Remove blankets and heavy clothing
• Drink plenty of fluids, especially drinks with electrolytes to counteract the minerals lost through sweating

Even though ice baths and alcohol rubs are sometimes recommended as DIY fever treatments, these at-home methods should be avoided. Ice and alcohol rubs cause the body to shiver, which increases the internal temperature even more.

The main benefit of lowering a fever is to help the person be more comfortable, especially when they are trying to sleep at night. Additionally, body temperature regulation is essential to avoid potentially dangerous side-effects, such as seizures.

When is a Fever Dangerous?

A mild fever isn’t considered dangerous. If you or a family member has a low-grade fever with other common illness symptoms, then a few days of rest and healing at home might be just what the doctor ordered. But how do you know when it is time to seek medical attention? If the fever escalates, then it could potentially become dangerous.

These are a few signs that indicate you should seek medical attention immediately. Talk to the doctor if the fever is accompanied by:

• Bruising
• Rashes
• Difficulty breathing

Other signs that you need medical attention might include:

• You’ve recently received one or more vaccinations
• You visited another country recently
• You have a serious pre-existing condition
• A child seems confused or delirious
• A child won’t stop crying
• The person has a weakened immune system or other medical complications

Fevers in Children vs. Adults

One determining factor regarding whether medical care is needed is based on the severity of the fever and the age of the person. You should talk to a doctor when these criteria are met:

• 0 – 3 Months Old: The child has a rectal temperature at or above 100. 4 degrees F
• 3 – 12 Months Old: An oral temperature reading is at or above 102.2 degrees F
• 2 Years Old – Teenage Years: If the child’s fever lasts more than 24 – 48 hours
• Adults: If the fever is above 103 degrees F and lasts more than 48 hours. Any time an adult fever reaches 105 or more, talk to a doctor right away.

Medical Treatment for Fever

Since a fever is a symptom of an underlying condition, it is important to obtain an accurate diagnosis to determine the best treatment plan. For example, antibiotics might be recommended for a bacterial infection, such as an ear infection or strep throat.

If you need medical care right away, then visiting an Urgent Care might be the most effective solution. At our clinic, you don’t have to schedule an appointment or wait for an opening. Walk-ins are welcome! Your entire family has access to fast treatment for a variety of injuries and illnesses.

Visit us anytime to access high-quality services from our board-certified medical team. We provide both urgent care services and emergency treatments. Call iCare ER and Urgent Care if you have questions about available services, or if you would like to schedule an appointment.: (214) 407-8668.

High temperature (fever) in adults

What is a high temperature?

Normal body temperature is different for everyone and changes during the day.

A high temperature is usually considered to be 38C or above. This is sometimes called a fever.

Check if you have a high temperature

You may have a high temperature if:

• your chest or back feel hotter than usual
• you have other symptoms, such as shivering (chills), sweating or warm, red skin (this may be harder to see on black or brown skin)
• a thermometer says your temperature is 38C or above

Important

If you feel hot or shivery, you may have a high temperature even if a thermometer says your temperature is below 38C.

Do I need to take my temperature?

You do not need to take your temperature using a thermometer, but you can if you have one.

Make sure you use it correctly to help get an accurate result. See how to take a temperature.

Treating a high temperature

There are some things you can do to help treat a high temperature.

Do

• get lots of rest

• drink plenty of fluids (water is best) to avoid dehydration – drink enough so your pee is light yellow and clear

• take paracetamol or ibuprofen if you feel uncomfortable

Information:

Try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until you do not have a high temperature.

Urgent advice: Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if you have:

• a high temperature and you’ve been treating it at home but it’s not getting better or is getting worse

You can call 111 or get help from 111 online.

Causes of a high temperature

Many things can cause a high temperature. It’s not usually a sign of anything serious.

It’s often just caused by your body fighting an infection, such as a cold or flu.

Sometimes it could be a sign of something more serious if your temperature is very high or will not come down.

Information:

Advice for children

This page is for adults. For advice about children, see high temperature (fever) in children.

Page last reviewed: 24 May 2023
Next review due: 24 May 2026

Why is temperature dangerous?

What is the danger of temperature?

Most of all, parents are afraid of fever, that is, an increase in body temperature in children.

We have collected several options for “threats” that scare parents if the temperature on the thermometer rises above “critical levels”:

• Protein will coagulate

• The brain will overheat

• Seizures will start

• The child will “burn out”.

What’s in reality?

An increase in temperature (fever) is a protective mechanism of the human body during the fight against infection. The body is able to control this process and it cannot harm itself.

A safe increase in body temperature is considered a mark of up to 42 degrees. And the protein will not curl. It is impossible to boil an egg at this temperature.

Let’s give an example: almost all housewives have an oven in the kitchen; for cooking a pie, a temperature of 180 degrees is required, for cooking fish or meat – 200-220 degrees. You yourself set this temperature and at the same time the oven will not overheat and will not break.

The same is true of the body: by engaging in the fight against viruses and bacteria, the immune system (hostess) begins to produce pyrogens (oven mode switches). Under their influence, the hypothalamus (oven) raises the temperature from normal to 39-40 degrees.

This is required to increase the efficiency of immune mechanisms, to produce acute phase proteins (C-reactive protein, procalcitonin), which destroy pathogens. Microbes at this temperature will also hardly be able to multiply.

After the number of bacteria and viruses in the body has decreased, pyrogens cease to be produced and stimulate the hypothalamus, the body temperature returns to normal 36-37 degrees.

Is it necessary to fight “white fever” and give No-shpu?

To increase the temperature, the body activates its forces, reducing heat loss: a spasm of peripheral vessels occurs, the limbs cool, the skin turns pale, trembling and chills are connected.

In the post-Soviet space, it was customary to call this stage of white fever and try in every possible way to turn it into red. This term is absent in international sources, it is believed that this is only one of the mechanisms / stages of temperature increase.

No-shpa is not needed in this case, since its action is directed to the smooth muscles of the internal organs, and not to the vessels.

Febrile convulsions at high temperature.

They occur in about 2-5% of children aged 6 months to 5 years, with a peak usually occurring at 12-18 months of age.

The development is characteristic on the first day of the disease, when the temperature rises sharply beyond 38-39 degrees, the duration of convulsions is up to 15 minutes (usually up to 5 minutes), ending with sleep.

They are benign, do not require treatment and do not recur the next day.

They arise due to the immaturity of the central nervous system of babies, and then the children outgrow them.

Note that for prevention, drinking antipyretics is not effective.

When should the temperature be lowered?

It is necessary to monitor the child’s condition: when he is very ill, his muscles and joints, head and ears hurt, then we must give an antipyretic with an anesthetic purpose, regardless of what the thermometer shows.

What drugs can be used?

Paracetamol and ibuprofen are just them.

In order to get the effect of the medicine, you need to create cool and humid air in the room, it is important to solder the child (to prevent dehydration).

The immune system of the child should be able to fight viruses and bacteria, do not interfere with this by giving antipyretics uncontrollably.

High fever – causes, in which diseases it occurs, diagnosis and treatment

Encephalitis

Tick-borne encephalitis

Borreliosis

Measles

Whooping cough

Rubella

Diphtheria

Scarlet fever

Chicken pox

Poliomyelitis

Colds

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05 July

High temperature – the causes of occurrence, in which diseases it occurs, diagnosis and methods of treatment.

An increase in temperature serves as a protective reaction of the body and can occur under the influence of various factors. Be sure to separate such conditions as hyperthermia (overheating) and fever, which is also accompanied by an increase in body temperature, but its mechanism differs from overheating and requires other measures to influence the body.

Possible causes

Fever is triggered by external (or exogenous) pyrogens – substances foreign to the body that have entered the bloodstream. These include infectious pyrogens: toxins of viruses and metabolic products of microorganisms. The primary group also includes non-infectious pyrogens: certain lipids, proteins and protein-containing substances that enter the body from the external environment or occur in the body during inflammatory processes, allergic reactions, or the decay of tumor tissues. Primary pyrogens, interacting with the cells of the immune system, initiate the production of internal, or endogenous (secondary) pyrogens – cytokines. They, acting on the center of thermoregulation in the brain, cause an increase in body temperature.

The feverish state has its own dynamics and includes several stages.

If body temperature is taken as the criterion for the course of fever, then three stages can be distinguished:

stage 1 – the period of temperature rise;

Stage 2 – the period of preservation, or standing temperature;

Stage 3 – the period of temperature decrease to normal values ​​..

Temperature rise stage

The rate of temperature rise depends on the concentration of pyrogens in the blood and can serve as a diagnostic sign.

A rapid increase in temperature to high values ​​​​is observed with influenza, lobar pneumonia,

and also possible when a foreign protein enters the blood (for example, when transfusing blood components). In this case, there is a strong chill, there is a cooling of the skin, which is due to a spasm of the superficial blood vessels.

A slow rise in temperature is characteristic of adenovirus infection, typhoid fever, brucellosis. In these cases, there may be no pronounced chills, and the first sensations of the disease will be fever, dry eyes, headache, and malaise. Possible blanching of the skin, coldness of the feet and hands.

What should be done?

First of all, it is necessary to warm the patient by wrapping him in a blanket. A heating pad applied to the legs and arms gives a good effect.

Temperature standing stage

After reaching the upper value, the temperature remains at this level for some time. This period is called the stage of standing temperature, when a balance is established between heat production and heat transfer. At this stage of the disease, the patient feels fever, drowsiness. Perhaps lack of appetite, thirst. Depending on the level of temperature rise, a weak or subfebrile temperature is distinguished – 37-38 ° C; moderate, or febrile – 38-39°C; high – 39-41 ° C and excessive – above 41 ° C.

Knocking down the temperature is not always appropriate.

Fever is a protective and adaptive reaction of the body that occurs in response to the action of pyrogens.

At a temperature of 37.5-38 ° C, the body actively fights infection. However, each person reacts differently to elevated temperatures. Therefore, when deciding on a drug-induced decrease in temperature, one should focus on well-being and associated symptoms. This is especially true for children. Conditionally, the threshold temperature at which it is necessary to strengthen the monitoring of the state of health and external manifestations is a temperature of 38 ° C and above.

The period of maintaining the temperature at a high level depends on the infectious agent, the state of immunity and the treatment being carried out.

In normal cases, this time can vary from one to five days, but in severe cases of the disease, it can be extended for several weeks.

Temperature fluctuations in a febrile patient have a certain rhythm: the maximum values ​​are noted at 5-6 pm, the minimum – about 4-5 am and variability. With inflammation of the lungs, for example, the temperature can stay at a high level for a long time. For bronchitis, pulmonary tuberculosis are characterized by significant daily temperature fluctuations (1-2 ° C). The so-called debilitating fever is very dangerous, which is characterized by sharp temperature fluctuations (with a rapid rise and fall), sometimes repeated two or three times during the day. There is such a fever with sepsis, the presence of cavities in pulmonary tuberculosis and the decay of lung tissue.

What should be done?

At high temperatures, it is necessary, if possible, to free the patient from excess clothing and provide access to fresh air, eliminating drafts. A cold compress can be applied to the forehead and areas of large vessels (elbows and knees). You can wipe the body with a towel moistened with cool water.

The issue of drug temperature reduction is decided in each case individually.

It is more difficult for a person to endure not high temperature, but intoxication of the body. Therefore, the main measures should be aimed at removing toxic metabolic products from the body. This is achieved by drinking plenty of water, if necessary – cleansing enemas.

When prescribing antipyretic drugs for children, the following nuances are taken into account:

– the age of the child is less than three months, and the temperature has risen above 38 ° C;

– a previously healthy child between the ages of three months and six years has a temperature above 39°C;

– in a child with heart or lung disease, the temperature exceeds 38 ° C;

– a child of any age (up to 18 years old) with a convulsive syndrome, diseases of the central nervous system, in the presence of such external signs as pallor, cyanosis of the skin and cold extremities, general lethargy and lethargy, it is necessary to reduce the temperature if it reaches 38 ° C Otherwise, a convulsive syndrome may occur, which is extremely dangerous and can lead to suffocation.

At high temperatures, the functioning of all organ systems changes.

The heart rate increases by 8-10 beats per minute for every degree of temperature increase. Often there are arrhythmias, more often extrasystole (extraordinary contractions), spasm of blood vessels and increased blood pressure.

The secretory and motor functions of the gastrointestinal tract are reduced, which leads to food retention in the intestines, and the lack of fluid causes constipation. Given these factors, it is necessary to adjust the nutrition of a febrile patient. Preference should be given to liquid easily digestible food, reducing the portion size, but increasing the number of meals.

There is a feature that should be taken into account for patients with diabetes. It must be remembered that fever is accompanied by an increase in blood glucose levels, which requires appropriate measures.

Treatment

The main antipyretic drugs include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs – paracetamol, ibuprofen, diclofenac. These drugs act quickly and are quickly excreted from the body.

Although the practice of taking antipyretic pills is widespread, experience shows that side effects are more pronounced in this case.

It is preferable to use rectal suppositories.

With this method of drug administration, the active substance enters directly into the blood through the blood vessels of the rectum. There is no irritating effect of drugs on the gastric mucosa. It becomes possible to administer the drug regardless of food intake.

Temperature reduction stage

The decrease in temperature in infectious diseases occurs either quickly and is accompanied by profuse sweating, and sometimes a drop in blood pressure, or slowly, within one to two days.

What should be done?

You can help the patient with a sharp drop in temperature by quickly changing wet clothes to dry ones and drinking hot tea.

It is important to remember that a decrease in temperature is not an indicator of recovery.