"Fever phobia" is rampant among parents of small children, says an American Academy of Pediatrics report that seeks to dispel some of the most common myths about fevers.
Parents tend to be overly fearful of fevers, resulting in unnecessary trips to the doctor, say the authors.
"Fever in a child is one of the most common clinical symptoms managed by pediatricians and other health care providers and a frequent cause of parental concern," they write in the journal Pediatrics.
A fever is the body's natural response to infection and can actually help a child's body fight the invading bug, the report says. Fevers can slow the growth of viruses and bacteria, and enhance production of important immune-system cells. So while they shouldn't be encouraged, fevers don't always need "fighting."
In many cases, kids' fevers are caused by viruses and they will go away without medicine and without causing a child over the age of three months any harm.
(Tiny infants under the age of three months are another matter. Parents should seek medical attention if their infant develops a temperature above 100.4, because young infants, with their undeveloped immune systems, can become very sick without showing obvious signs.)
The doctors say there is a myth that an untreated fever can lead to brain damage. They say there is no proof that low-grade fevers can lead to seizures or brain damage in kids, although temperatures above 41° Celsius (105.8 Fahrenheit) can be dangerous.
They also say there is no evidence that lowering a fever will reduce the illness.
Parents tend to over-treat fevers, the doctors note, pointing out that a temperatures less than 100.4 degrees (38 Celsius) is not even considered a fever.
Some parents will even wake up their sleeping children to give them fever-reducing medicine; that's completely unnecessary, the report says.
Dr. Jeremy Friedman of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children agrees that parents are over-treating fevers, and advises them to look at a fever as "a sort of a burglar alarm."
"The fever is not the problem, but it is a sign that you should be looking to see what's causing the fever. So what sort of infection does the child have?" Friedman told CTV News Channel Monday. "Personally, I always tell parents not to treat the fever unless the child seems to be actually uncomfortable with the fever."
The report says that the primary reason that parents should offer their child a fever reducing medication, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen, is to make the child feel more comfortable; it shouldn't be to maintain a "normal" temperature.
Friedman echoes the opinion of the report's authors, who advise parents to focus on the general wellbeing of the child to decide how sick they are, observing symptoms such as energy levels, lethargy and appetite as measures of whether they need medical attention.
"If your child has a fever and looks well, then you can relax," says Friedman. "If your child has a fever but is not playful, is not eating and drinking, is not interacting, is hard to console, that's when you need to seek advice from your doctor."
The report notes that while acetaminophen and ibuprofen are safe and effective when used as directed, "they should be used judiciously to minimize the risk of adverse drug effects and toxicity."
"Acetaminophen is the most common single ingredient implicated in emergency department visits for medication overdoses among children," note the authors.
They add that the medications need to be stored safely, since more than 80 per cent of these emergency visits are a result of "unsupervised ingestions."
