We’ve all had a fever. Fever is the most common symptom if the body is infected with a virus, parasite, or bacteria. Fever occurs as the body's immune system fight the infection. Not only adults, fever can also occur in children and even infants.

Your baby may have a fever if the body temperature reaches 38 degrees Celsius and above. If your baby is younger than two months old and having fever, be careful, as your baby is more vulnerable to infection than older infants.

According to a recent study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, babies younger than eight weeks old who have a high fever have twice the risk of serious bacterial infections, meningitis, and blood and urinary tract infections. The researchers explained that newborn babies do not yet have a perfect immune system, which makes them vulnerable to infection. If not diagnosed quickly, the condition of those who suffered from serious infections will deteriorate rapidly.

In their study, researchers conducted an analysis of 4,821 infants enrolled in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network. Each baby was known to have a history of fever and have their blood samples taken. The researchers evaluated three characteristics of fever (temperature, duration, and location of temperature measurements) to see which factors affect the risk of serious infection in infants. As a result, duration and location have no relationship with risk of infection, while high temperature can be associated with high risks of infection.

Text by Anggie Triana
Stock photos from Google Search Images

Source(s):

• Davis, J., and Lehman, E. (2019). Fever Characteristics and Risk of Serious Bacterial Infection in Febrile Infants. The Journal of Emergency Medicine, DOI: 10.1016 / j.jemermed.2019.06.028.
• Science Daily - Young Infants with fever may be more likely to develop infections (2019). https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191007113337.htm, 8 October 2019.