Report: Avoid overtreating child fevers

The Associated Press

CHICAGO - Fever phobia is rampant among parents of young children, according to a myth-busting American Academy of Pediatrics report that advises against treatment every time a kid's temperature inches up.

"There's a lot of parental anxiety about fever. It's one of the most common reasons people bring their child to the doctor," said Dr. Henry Farrar, co-author of the report and an emergency room pediatrician at Arkansas Children's Hospital.

Most often, kids' fevers are caused by viruses, and they will go away without medicine and without any damage.

Parents tend to overtreat fevers, even waking up sleeping kids to give them fever-reducing medicine, Farrar said. "If they're sleeping, let them sleep," he said.

There is no hard proof that untreated fevers lead to seizures or brain damage, and no evidence that lowering fevers reduces illness, according to the report, which focused on children older than 3 months.

Temperatures lower than 100.4 degrees are not considered a fever. There's no harm in treating a true fever with over-the-counter acetaminophen or ibuprofen.

And it makes sense to do so when the child is obviously feeling ill. But the No. 1 reason to use fever-reducing medicine is to make a sick child feel more comfortable, the authors said.

The report, to be released online in the journal Pediatrics, emphasizes that fevers are not an illness but a mechanism that helps fight infection. They can slow the growth of viruses and bacteria, and enhance producing immune-system cells.

The report doesn't recommend any temperature cutoffs for when to treat or call the doctor. Many physicians recommend calling the doctor if a child's temperature hits 104 or 105 degrees, but Farrar said it's just as important to assess the child's behavior.

Parents should pay attention to other symptoms of illness, such as whether the child is unusually cranky, lethargic, or not drinking liquids and avoiding food. Those are often better measures of how sick a child is, the authors said.

Co-author Dr. Janice Sullivan said infants younger than 3 months are an exception. Parents should get medical help when their temperatures rise above 100.4 because they can be very sick without showing obvious signs, she said.