Some serious, but rare complications can occur from High Fever.
For example, brain damage can result from a High Fever, but only if the body temperature remains above (107.6°F, 42°C) for an extended period of time.
In rare cases, High Fever can cause seizures. However, this happens in less than 5% of children with fever. These fever induced seizures are called febrile seizures, and are caused by a rapid increase in body temperature and possibly also by the height of the temperature. If a child already has a high fever, then a febrile seizure is unlikely to occur. Toddlers are the most commonly affected by febrile seizures.
Febrile seizures are harmless, but they can cause great alarm in parents, particularly those who have never witnessed them before. Febrile seizures begin with a sudden and sustained contraction of muscles in the face, trunk, arms, and legs on both sides of the child’s body. Often a very haunting, involuntary cry or moan emerges from the child, from the force of the muscle contraction. The contraction continues for seemingly endless seconds, or even tens of seconds, and the child will fall, if standing, and may also pass urine, vomit, bite their tongue, cease breathing, and even begin to turn blue. Eventually, the sustained contraction will be broken by repeated brief moments of relaxation, which cause the child’s body to jerk rhythmically, after which the child will be limp and unresponsive for a time, and then they will be drowsy and confused for a period of time.
Febrile seizures are over in moments with no lasting consequences to the child. Early treatment of fevers in children who susceptible to febrile seizures is the best way to prevent them from occurring.
In addition to the fever, the cause of the infection may be mumps, measles, meningitis, or any of a large number of other serious and not-so-serious diseases, and these diseases can have serious complications. If you have any other symptoms or if you suspect any other disease, then you should seek medical attention straight away.
