Fevers are a reaction of the body to something unusual, often an infection, that results in a deviation from normal body temperature. In this video learn more about fevers and what they mean for you.
DR. JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi. My name is Dr. Justin Davis, and today we're going to talk about fevers. Now fevers are not actually illness in themselves, but a reaction of the body to something unusual, often an infection. Fevers aren't necessarily bad; in fact, they may actually play an important role in the immune system in helping to fight off certain kinds of infections. So when is a fever dangerous? Well, in adults a fever is not considered dangerous until it becomes much higher than the normal temperature. That means perhaps 103 or 104 degrees, or higher than that. In children, often a fever of 103 or 104 is quite common and isn't as dangerous as in an adult, but it is important to have that evaluated because sometimes you can have other complications from a fever, or it's telling you that there is some kind of underlying problem, such as an infection, that needs to be treated urgently. So what are the symptoms of a fever? Well, a fever always means an increase in the body temperature. A normal body temperature of a person is somewhere around 98.6 degrees that can vary a little bit depending on the individual, but when your temperature becomes greater than 100.4 degrees then we call it a fever. Aside from just the increase in temperature, other common symptoms associated with the fever may be body aches, shivering, fatigue, things that you may commonly associate with being sick in general. So what do we do to treat a fever? Well, sometimes a fever really doesn't need to be treated to all because it is a healthy part of a normal immune system. The reason that we do treat fevers, however, is that when you have, especially a high fever, you may feel very terrible, and nobody like to feel terrible. So sometimes simple medicine like Tylenol or ibuprofen, or other over-the-counter medicines may be given to help reduce the fever temporarily, and let you feel better. The other common reason we may treat a fever is that when it becomes too high, it can be dangerous or in children with a high fever, occasionally they'll have seizures due to that fever. Now, usually that's not a dangerous event but it'd be quite alarming for both the child and parent, and so we typically will make sure that temperatures don't get too high where they might trigger this to happen. Prevention really depends upon what's causing the fever, so usually we try to prevent becoming ill rather than preventing a fever. That means careful handwashing and avoiding other people that
you know are sick, and using common sense when you're in crowded areas or crowded rooms or traveling to prevent yourself from becoming sick. Also of course, it's always a good idea to maintain a healthy diet and healthy activity levels as this helps to keep your immune system as strong as possible. So if you think that you're having a fever, don't panic. Remember, it's a normal part of everyone's body and immune system to have a fever. On the other hand, it is important to let a health professional know because it signifies some other kind of infection, and it's important to have that evaluated and treated if necessary.
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