We have something in our heads called the hypothalamus, the body’s temperature regulation center here. When the body’s immune system detects an invading pathogen, it releases a chemical called thermogenic material that is carried by the bloodstream to the hypothalamus. When the hypothalamus receives the thermogenic substance, it is analyzed and if it is a virus or bacteria, the hypothalamus starts to accelerate the body’s metabolism, producing excess heat to raise the body temperature, and we get a fever.
Therefore, fever is not a disease. Fever is an important part of the body’s immune function, which is the body’s primary function in fighting infection. Whenever possible, do not reduce a fever because it is not helping the body to fight the disease, it is helping the enemy.
Several studies in recent years have found that fever not only inhibits the multiplication of viruses and bacteria, but also increases the number of CD8 lymphocytes, thus enhancing immune function. Although it makes us uncomfortable, a fever is definitely a good thing, and a fever reducer is a treatment that can be left alone.
After taking fever-reducing medication only for a few hours, the body temperature will rise again afterwards because the immune system will continue to fight the infection until it is defeated and the body temperature will return to normal. Therefore, antipyretics are emphatically not intended to lower the body temperature to a normal level; they can only lower the body temperature by 1°C to 1.5°C.
Many people think that if a fever is not treated, the body temperature will keep rising up. This is not true for fevers caused by colds. Because fever is a normal function of the body and the hypothalamus is able to regulate it, if the body temperature is too high, the hypothalamus will lower the metabolic level and make the body temperature come down. This is the beauty of the human body, the body has its own regulatory system, so parents and doctors do not need to worry about it.
All human systems have a gradual development process, and so does the immune system. Children’s immune function is a gradual improvement process, and the reason why children’s temperature is higher when they have a fever is because their immune system is not yet well developed, and the hypothalamus is not yet able to control the temperature to a satisfactory level. A small percentage of children do not yet have good control, so they can have a high fever of 40°C or more.
Chinese medical experts consider a low fever to be between 37.5°C and 38°C, a moderate fever between 38°C and 39°C, and a high fever above 39°C. A fever of 38.5°C should be treated with fever-reducing medication, and a fever of 39°C should be treated with a hospital visit.
Medical professionals in the United States, on the other hand, consider a low fever between 37.8°C and 39°C, a moderate fever between 39°C and 40°C, and a high fever above 40°C. In the United States, even very cautious doctors only recommend going to the hospital for high fevers, that is, fevers above 40°C, unless the child is under 4 months old.
For most children with colds, the fever will be between 37.8°C and 40°C for 2 to 3 days and rarely exceeds 40°C. But if 39°C is the line, most children who start a fever will exceed that line, and since medical experts in China who suffer from fever phobia recommend that 39°C doctors seek medical attention, Chinese hospitals are packed with children with fevers.
One additional point here is about body temperature. The most accurate temperature measurement is the anal temperature, while Chinese specialists often use the axillary temperature, which may be 0.5°C lower than the anal temperature.
The reason for the fever phobia epidemic is febrile seizures, which manifest as loss of consciousness, trembling, and bilateral twitching of the limbs, a condition that usually occurs in children from 6 months to 3 years of age in a ratio of about 1:25. It can be a terrifying experience for parents if their own child develops febrile seizures.
Febrile Seizures is often translated as febrile convulsions, a translation that is incorrect, although most children who develop Febrile Seizures are running a high fever, and some are not. Febrile Seizures are not caused by a high body temperature, as medical professionals who suffer from fever phobia believe, but because the child is age is too young and underdeveloped, in addition to a family history. Because of this, reducing fever does not prevent Febrile Seizures.
Remember, there is no evidence that reducing fever prevents Febrile Seizures!
In 2011 the American Academy of Pediatrics published guidelines, “Fevers and the Use of Fever Reducers in Children,” stating that lowering body temperature does not reduce morbidity and mortality and that fever-reducing medications do not reduce recurrent febrile seizures. The primary purpose of antipyretics is to make the patient comfortable rather than to lower the body temperature.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has funded numerous long-term studies and follow-ups of febrile spasms and has found no brain damage from short periods of febrile spasms, and large studies have found no difference in academic performance or IQ tests between children who have had febrile spasms and their siblings who have not had febrile spasms. Even those children who experienced prolonged heat cramps (lasting more than an hour) were overwhelmingly fine. The only consequence of heat cramps is that a very small percentage of children later develop epilepsy, which is about one percent.
Therefore, even if the body temperature exceeds 40°C, there is no long-term damage.
After a fever, especially if your child has a fever, no matter how high the temperature is, do not take fever-reducing medication easily, and there is no need to go to the hospital below 40°C. As long as your child is in good spirits, there is nothing to worry about.
So when to take antipyretic medicine?
Doctors in the United States have a saying: reduce fever by targeting the person and not the body temperature. Meaning that there is no one-size-fits-all standard, that fever reducers do not help the cold process at all, they just make people feel better, and that unless it is too uncomfortable, there is no need to take fever reducers, especially not to wake your child up in their sleep to give them fever reducers.
Understand the mechanism of fever in order to cure the fever phobia. It is true that children launching a fever makes parents very worried, but parents must be calm and believe in the child’s own ability to resist disease, in the immune function of the human body, in the design of the human body, and after having one or two experiences, they will be able to be open to their child’s fever.