New Kid On The Blog

Dominic has fever again! And this time it is not due to immunisation. It started on Sunday, 2-Apr-2006. Dominic's usual paediatrician does not have a clinic on Sundays, therefore I took him to another clinic, i.e. the one which Joe and Vincent normally go to. The doctor asked if anyone else in the house is sick and I said, yes, Joe is sick. And so the doctor concluded that Dominic must have caught the infection from Joe, which is just the normal fever virus. He prescribed some paracetamol.

The whole family was very concerned about him, especially Joe's dad because he believes that a high fever can cause brain damage. He has met some mentally retarded people and he practically freaks out when his kids have fever. That was when I started doing some research on the Internet, as well as consulted a GP and a paediatrician. What I found out was as follows:

Myth 1: High fever can cause brain damage. I notice by talking to parents at the hospital that many parents do think so.

Fact: High fever does not cause brain damage unless the body temperature is higher than 42 C. A body temperature this high is only caused by the environment, for example if you're trapped inside a hot place or have been standing under the sun for prolonged period. Otherwise, the brain has a thermostat which will control the body temperature within 41.1 C and below. Meningitis is a bacteria infection of the brain's membranes that can cause deafness and brain damage, and very often meningitis has no other symptoms except high fever. I guess that is why most parents associate high fever with brain damage.

Myth 2: Fever is treated by bringing the body temperature down such as using a wet towel, ice pack, etc.

Fact: You don't treat fever because fever is a symptom and not a disease. You treat the underlying cause of the fever, e.g. flu, bacteria infection, cold, virus attack, etc. However, if you do have a fever you may want to take steps to bring the body temperature down simply because having a high fever is extremely uncomfortable. Panadol or paracetamol is taken to just bring the temperature down temporarily and does not cure anything. Some parents find that their child's fever keeps coming back. That is because the underlying infection is not cured, therefore the fever comes back after the paracetamol wears off. In most cases, doctors will prescribe antibiotics to kill the bacteria infection that is causing the fever. In some cases, the body recovers on its own after the immune system is done fighting the infection.

Myth 3: The higher the temperature of the fever, the more serious is the illness.

Fact: Actually we should pay attention to the behaviour of the child rather to the temperature. If the fever is high, the cause may or not may not be serious, but if the child looks very sick then chances are the cause is serious.

There are a lot more facts about fever but these are the 3 points that I find worth noting. Also, we should know that a temperature higher than 37.5 C is considered a fever. But I find that Dominic often have temperature higher than that because of the hot weather.

After visiting Joe's paediatrician, Dominic's condition did not get better over the next 2 days. His fever came and went. Because there were no other symptoms, I worry that it could be due to more serious infection rather than just the common virus. I took to him to see his paediatrician on Wednesday. A blood and urine test was done and Dominic was diagnosed with urinary tract infection. He is on antibiotics now. How did he get urinary tract infection? That's another story .... do come back for more updates. :-)