Fever- act on the facts not the fallacies; learn how here
#fever#seizures
I don’t know where the “keep calm” slogan originated, but it certainly applies in the case of fever. Many people consider fever a bona fide emergency, especially in children.
But fever is just a symptom, usually due to a benign (minor) illness that is self-limited (will go away on its own). In less common circumstances, it is due to a serious or even life threatening disease.
This photograph depicted a woman who was using a modern, battery-powered oral thermometer, in order to measure her body temperature. In order to return an accurate reading, this particular type of thermometer needed to be placed beneath the user’s tongue, for a set amount of time, beeping when the ambient, sublingual temperature was reached. Photo credit-James Gathany, CDC, public domain
“5 truths about fevers in children”explains that, and most of the content applies just as well to adults as children. One difference is that febrile seizures do not occur in adults.
A febrile seizure is one for which there is no other cause – the fever caused the seizure.
So if an older child, adolescent or adult with a fever has a seizure, that seizure must be due to something else; for example, meningitis, an infection of the brain lining, can cause fever and seizures; in that case the seizure is due to the infection, not the fever. In this case, the seizure is the emergency, not the fever.
Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics, while antiviral medications are limited. Vaccines exist for several viruses and bacteria, including influenza, MMR, and Hepatitis strains. However, diseases like malaria and HPV require additional attention. Many infections lack preventive vaccines, emphasizing the importance of consulting physicians for advice on vaccinations and disease prevention.
Virus vs Bacteria
One major difference between bacterial and viral infections is the treatment. We have many more effective antibiotics (drugs which fight bacteria) than we do antiviral drugs.
And antibiotics do not affect viruses. Despite that fact, patients often expect and even demand their physicians prescribe antibiotics for viral infections such as influenza, colds and bronchitis- and unfortunately too often we physicians do it anyway.
Influenza- the vaccine is given annually and targeted to the strains of virus predicted to be active in any given year.
Measles (rubeola), Mumps, Rubella (German measles) -I am grouping these together since their vaccines are usually given together as the MMR. Recent outbreaks of measles have been attributed to the decline in vaccination rates.
Polio, a disease parents feared when I was a child, due to to risk of permanent paralysis, now essentially eradicated in the United States
Rotavirus, in infants and small children, a common cause of gastroenteritis- vomiting and diarrhea, with or without fever and abdominal pain
HPV, the human papilloma virus, causes warts of all kinds, but the vaccine is targeted to the strains that cause genital warts and cervical cancer
The cousin viruses, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B.
Hepatitis is an infection of the liver, which can range from a mild disease to life threatening. Hepatitis A is spread through contaminated food or water. Hepatitis B is spread through contact with infected blood or other body fluids.
Another set of cousins, Varicella Zoster (VZ) virus causes two different infections and thus has two vaccines. The original infection is varicella or chickenpox, formerly a common childhood illness but not seen often now due to the vaccine. When it reactivates, usually years later in adulthood, it is known as zoster or shingles.
There are also several vaccines usually reserved for travel to specific areas of the world, occupational exposure, military service or other special circumstances. These include vaccines for anthrax, typhoid, cholera, (bacteria) and yellow fever, smallpox,and rabies (viruses).
Diseases for which there is no vaccine
One of the most serious is malaria, caused by a parasite transmitted by infected mosquitos. Malaria is rarely a risk in northern or extreme southern areas of the world, but for the tropics, especially sub-Saharan Africa it is a major health problem. (A vaccine is being tested.)
Otherwise we all are at risk of other serious infections that we cannot yet prevent with immunization. These include
HIV-human immunodeficiency virus ,and most other sexually transmitted diseases including HSV- herpes simplex virus, gonorrhea, syphilis, and chlamydia.
HCV- Hepatitis C
Most respiratory viruses, including rhinovirus, cause of the common cold; RSV-respiratory syncytial virus and infectious mononucleosis
The Ebola virus
Borrelia, not really a bacteria, it’s a spirochete, which causes Lyme (not lime) disease
And the bacteria Staphylococcus, which causes “staph” (not staff) infections of the skin and Streptococcus, which causes “strep throat”.
If you have any questions or concerns about which vaccines you might need to protect yourself against infections, please consult your own personal physician.
Prevention is a focus in healthcare now and immunization has been one of the most effective ways to prevent disease ever developed. The list of diseases that are “vaccine preventable” is long and continues to grow. Vaccine recommendations may be based on a person’s Vaccine administration may vary by Immunization protocols have become so complex…
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