What are the dangers of a high fever in children?

A high fever in children is a common symptom in life and it can cause great harm to children. There are many causes of fever, such as pneumonia, infectious diseases, etc. High fever can easily cause convulsions, that is, it can easily lead to seizures. If it lasts for a long time and recurs repeatedly, it may even cause brain damage. It can also easily cause asphyxia syndrome and lead to dehydration.

1. Febrile convulsion, commonly known as convulsion.

Infants and young children have incompletely developed nervous systems and imperfect temperature regulation functions, so they are prone to fever after being injured by the heat. When the body temperature rises above 39°C, it can easily cause convulsions. The baby's muscles are rigid all over his body, his limbs twitch, his eyes roll up or stare, and he is unconscious. The attack usually lasts only a few seconds and he will regain consciousness quickly. A single high fever convulsion will not have a major impact on the child, but if it occurs repeatedly and lasts for a long time, it will cause damage to the brain.

2. Dehydration fever.

The body weight of a newborn baby is 80% water, while that of an infant is 70% water. If children are kept in an environment where the indoor temperature is too high every day, they will sweat too much. In addition, the renal function of infants is not yet mature, and they cannot concentrate urine like adults to reduce water loss. As a result, you sweat a lot and urinate a lot, and your body becomes dehydrated due to a large loss of water, making it difficult to regulate your body temperature, which causes it to rise. It has been measured that for every 1°C increase in body temperature, 10% of the water in the body will evaporate. If the baby is not replenished with water in time, he will develop a fever due to dehydration, and symptoms such as high fever, listlessness, crying, irritability, and refusal to eat will appear.

3. Infectious diseases.

In winter, some parents don't let their children go out and keep them in heated rooms all day. If you get hot, it is very easy to cause infectious diseases. This is because children's respiratory tract has not been trained to withstand cold for a long time and has become weak and vulnerable. Once you go out, you are likely to get a respiratory infection.

4. Overheating asphyxia syndrome.

It is more common in newborn babies, where the mother hugs the child while sleeping, and the baby's head is often covered by the quilt. Because infants have a high metabolism and relatively higher energy needs than adults, they require more water than adults, but their tolerance to dehydration and hypoxia is worse than that of adults. In this overheating situation, overheating asphyxia syndrome will occur. The child will sweat profusely, his skin will be hot all over, his body temperature will reach over 40℃, his face will be pale or cyanotic, he will be unconscious, his eyes will be straight, his limbs will be stiff, his reaction will be slow or he will fall into a coma. Due to excessive sweating and dry skin that feels like hard clothes to the touch, children with severe conditions often die from secondary internal bleeding or intracranial hemorrhage.