What causes fever in children?

Fever is the most common cause of children's illness. However, fever is not a disease, but a symptom caused by disease. Diseases of almost all human systems can cause fever in childhood. For example, respiratory system diseases, digestive system diseases, urinary system diseases, nervous system diseases, ear, nose and throat diseases, infectious diseases, some diseases after vaccination, etc are all may cause fever.

Children, especially young children, have weak resistance and are more prone to fever. It takes time to control infection and recover from disease.Fever may recur, and the child's temperature needs to be measured regularly.

There are several kinds of conditions may cause fever in children:

1. Viral or bacterial infection. When children grow up, they will use their hands and mouth to explore the things around them. Disease enters by the mouth. Preschool specific diseases such as infantile rash.

2. Child food accumulation. Some cough and fever in children should be caused by food accumulation.

3. Catch cold. Catch cold is easy to judge while the other three are not so easy to find out by our own at home. We always think that a fever is a cold which will easy to delay treatment. No matter what causes fever, temperature monitoring is essential. This is helpful for us to understand the physical condition of children, so as to find out the exact cause of fever.

We take temperature at different body parts to try to get convenient and accurate measurement.

1. Rectal. For a child under 4 or 5 months, use a rectal thermometer to get an accurate reading. A child has a fever if the rectal temperature is above 100.4 F.

2. Oral. For a child over 4 or 5 months, you can use an oral or pacifier thermometer. The child has a fever if it registers above 100.4 F.

3. Ear. If the child is 6 months old or older, you can use an ear or temporal artery thermometer, but this may not be as accurate. Still, under most circumstances, it's a reasonable way to get a good enough estimate. If it's essential that you get an accurate reading, take a rectal temperature.

4. Armpit. If you take the child’s temperature in the armpit, a reading above 100.4 F usually indicates a fever.

Fever is usually a symptom of the body. After finding out the cause and treating symptomatically, you can recover quickly.