"Immunity Lecture Hall" Issue 50: Will fever damage the brain?

When it comes to the topic of fever, mothers are terrified. They often ask their children whether fever will damage their brains or affect their intelligence. So, what exactly is fever? This issue of Immunity Lecture Hall invites professional doctors to tell you about fever.

Why is it sent

Fever is sometimes the result of a re-regulation of the body's temperature, and sometimes it is caused by an imbalance in the body's temperature regulation.

In fact, the body temperature of a normal person is regulated by the thermoregulatory center, and the heat production and heat dissipation process is dynamically balanced through nerve and body fluid factors, keeping the body temperature within a relatively constant range. When the body is affected by a heat source or other reasons cause dysfunction of the thermoregulatory center, the body temperature rises beyond the normal range and the body has a fever.

What is the cause of fever?

There are many causes of fever, which can be divided into infectious and non-infectious. Of course, the most common one is infectious fever, including various pathogens, such as viruses, bacteria, mycoplasma, etc. Common cold fever is generally infectious fever.

Non-infectious ones include: absorption of sterile necrotic substances, antigen-antibody reaction, endocrine and metabolic diseases, dysfunction of the body temperature regulation center (such as heat stroke, sunstroke), etc.

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Fever itself does not directly damage brain tissue, but meningitis, encephalitis or abnormal discharge of neurons caused by infection with pathogens can damage the brain. In fact, there are three situations in which fever may affect a child's brain:

① Fever caused by encephalitis or meningitis

When brain cells and meninges are inflamed, headaches, vomiting, and impaired consciousness may occur. In severe cases, the respiratory and circulatory centers may be affected and respiratory and circulatory failure may occur. This is because the disease itself affects the child's brain, not because of the sequelae of fever.

②

Children under the age of six are prone to excessive discharge of brain nerve cells and febrile convulsions when they have a high fever because their brain nerves are not fully developed. If febrile convulsions occur repeatedly or last too long, they may also cause certain damage to the brain.

③

In the case of extremely high fever (above 41.1°C), it may cause degeneration, necrosis, metabolic disorders and production of harmful products in brain cells, which may lead to brain damage.

Child has a fever

The key to fever care is to reduce the temperature and prevent high fever damage. First of all, you should reduce the number of clothes and quilts to facilitate heat dissipation. Drinking water in moderation and paying attention to replenishing water can also sweat and dissipate heat, which is beneficial to reducing fever.

Tips for cooling your baby:

It is recommended to use warm water sponge bath, warm water foot bath, bath, appropriate cold compress or apply cooling patch to dissipate heat.

Older children can also use ice packs to keep them cool.

Alcohol baths are not allowed to reduce fever in babies!

Seeing this, many parents may be annoyed that their baby is weak and will inevitably have a headache and fever.

What should I do if I have a fever? Do I have to go to the hospital?

Warm reminder: When the baby's body temperature does not exceed 38.5℃, the above physical cooling care is generally sufficient. However, if the body temperature exceeds 38.5℃, it is best to give antipyretic drugs to prevent high fever convulsions. When the child has a high fever or recurrent fever, it is necessary to go to the hospital for examination in time to find out the cause of the fever, eliminate the cause, and treat according to the doctor's advice.