Should you treat a fever?

Using medications to reduce a fever may prolong the illness. That's because fever launches beneficial body processes that help fight pathogens.

Fever boosts the presence of antibodies and white blood cells in your system. The increase in temperature also helps impair the replication of microbes, and eventually kill them off.

The only times a fever may require medical attention is:

• An infant younger than
  3 months (at any temperature)
• When the temperature reaches more than 102.2 degrees F (39 degrees C) in children between 3 and 36 months
• Anytime a fever rises over 104.5 degrees F
  (40 degrees C)
• In some cases of sepsis or neurological injuries, uncontrolled fever may worsen outcomes.

Author

David Cox, D.C. Dr. David Cox is Little Elm's Original Chiropractor! Passionately serving the area since 2001, he has been in Little Elm since it was a "one stop light town!"