Eileen McQuaide, age 12, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for her question:
WHAT IS A FEVER?
The treatment used for a fever should be determined by knowing the disease or condition that caused ahe fever. Ice water baths are often prescribed by a doctor to relieve the high fever of a sunstroke, for example. Other times a doctor may suggest either warm or cold water bathing, or the applying of cold applications to the head as a way to reduce body temperature..
A fever is the rise in the body's temperature. Fever can accompany many different diseases and infections.
A body's normal temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. If a fever is present, the body's temperature starts to go up. With some diseases a body temperature of 112 or 115 degrees Fahrenheit can be reached.
A fever which lasts for a long time usually starts as a fever of invasion. In this first stage, the patient shows weakness, a loss of appetite, rapid pulse and a chill. In the next stage, or period of height, the pulse remains rapid, the body become hot, dry and flushed and the temperature rises.
During the period of height, the patient may manifest thirst, headache, restlessness and rapid breathing.
A fever's last stage is called the period of decline. Here the temperature will fall, the breathing will slow down, the skin will become moist and the patient starts to feel better.
A continued fever is one where the temperature stays above normal for several days. An intermittent fever is one where the temperature drops to normal and then rises again after a certain period of time. A remittant fever is one where the temperature alternately falls to a point above normal and then rises even higher again.
Another type of fever is called a relapsing fever. Here the temperature falls to normal and suddenly rises again after a few days.
A slight fever in a healthy person is usually a sign of infection.
Drugs such as salicyclic acid, aspirin and phenacetin are sometimes suggested by doctors as a way to relieve the aches and pains which usually accompany a fever.
Fevers can have some good results, doctors say. It was a Viennese scientist named Julius Wagner von Jauregg who discovered in the 1920s that high fever can kill bacteria which cause some diseases.
Doctors at one time gave artificial fever curses to persons suffering with certain types of diseases. This type of treatment isn't used often these days.