Pediatrics often uses a very fixed pattern to deal with pediatric fever: if the temperature rises to 38°C, the child will be physically cooled by removing clothing and warm water baths; if the temperature rises above 38.5, the child will be given ibuprofen or acetaminophen to reduce fever. 1. Is fever itself dangerous? As we all know, parents are most worried when their children have a sudden fever. Many parents believe that fever can lead to brain damage, convulsions, dehydration, coma or even life-threatening. The common high fever in pediatrics is usually below 41°C, which is a temperature increase within the controllable range of the body temperature, and its dangerous high fever cases are relatively rare. However, extreme hyperthermia, with body temperatures above 41°C, does disrupt normal cellular metabolism and even damage organ function, and this ultra-high body temperature has significant pathogenicity such as brain damage, which is a pathological response due to uncontrolled regulation of body temperature. There is no evidence that fever itself is dangerous, and the fear of fever comes more from the ignorance of the underlying infectious disease behind the fever. 2. Does a high fever indicate a more serious illness? Some studies have shown that the incidence of serious illness increases with increasing body temperature; however, many children with serious illness do not have high body temperatures. Therefore, there is no direct relationship between fever and severity of illness. It is worth noting that a temperature of more than 39°C in infants under 6 months of age has a higher value in predicting serious illness, while it is more significant in those under 3 months of age. 3.Why do I need antipyretic? Fever reduction is to address the other symptoms associated with fever. During fever, children often feel unwell or depressed, have poor appetite, sleep poorly, and some have pain, swelling, headache, and abdominal discomfort. Therefore, it is appropriate to use antipyretic and anti-inflammatory medications to relieve these febrile symptoms. In addition, high fever can present with convulsions, especially in children with a previous history of febrile convulsions. Then, studies have shown that the prophylactic use of antipyretics has no effect on the incidence of convulsions. Most febrile convulsions occur at the onset of fever, which may explain why prophylactic medication does not work. 4. Should we actively reduce heat treatment or not? One of the points repeatedly emphasized in the latest guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics on fever reduction is that fever itself is not harmful to the child unless it is super high, and it is good for fighting infection. Some diseases that cause fever (such as severe bacterial infections) require treatment for the cause, but unless the child is obviously unwell, fever reduction is not necessary. 5. Do I need physical cooling? It is difficult to measure the child’s comfort level with objective indicators. The consensus of American experts is that above 39°C (Chinese guidelines are above 38.5°C) the child will be more uncomfortable. If the child is not obviously uncomfortable and has no other underlying illnesses that require additional attention, then fevers below 39°C usually do not require fever reduction and naturally do not require rubbing baths and ice packs. Rubbing baths to cool down the fever, the effect is not good. 6.How to choose which fever-reducing medicine? Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are two of the most widely used fever-reducing drugs. These two drugs are very effective in reducing the body temperature of children with fever. 7. Are antipyretics safe? In general, adverse reactions are relatively rare. Although, there are reports of gastrointestinal bleeding, kidney damage and secondary infections caused by ibuprofen, and hepatotoxicity and asthma caused by acetaminophen. 8. Is a combination of two drugs better than a single drug? Parents and medical professionals sometimes alternate the use of two antipyretic drugs. When the previously used antipyretic drugs are ineffective, the alternate administration of another antipyretic drug can help reduce the child’s body temperature, and one of the studies also reported that this alternate drug regimen can significantly relieve symptoms such as pain and other physical discomfort.