fever
Sign in to saveFever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature set point in the hypothalamus. There is no single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature: sources use values ranging between in humans.
AI overview
A fever is when your body's temperature rises above normal because your brain's temperature control center increases its set point as part of your body's defense against infection. While there's no single agreed-upon definition of exactly where normal temperature ends and fever begins, this elevated temperature is an important sign that your immune system is responding to fight off illness.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- Medical condition.name
- Fever
- Medical condition.synonyms
- Pyrexia, febrile response, febrile
- Medical condition.image
- Symptoms-fever.jpg
- Medical condition.caption
- Person with fever
- Medical condition.field
- Infectious disease, pediatrics
- Medical condition.symptoms
- Initially: shivering, feeling cold, chillsLater: flushed, sweating
- Medical condition.complications
- Febrile seizure
- Medical condition.causes
- Virus, bacteria, increase in the body's temperature set point
- Medical condition.diagnosis
- Temperature higher than the normal range of
- Medical condition.differential
- Hyperthermia
- Medical condition.treatment
- Based on underlying cause, not required for fever itself
Article
27 sectionsContents
- Associated symptoms
- Differential diagnosis
- Hyperthermia
- Mechanism
- Hypothalamus
- Pyrogens
- Endogenous
- Exogenous
- Neural circuit mechanism with PGE2 action
- Diagnosis
- Associated conditions
- Types
- Hyperpyrexia
- Function
- Immune function
- Advantages and disadvantages
- Management
- Conservative measures
- Medications
- Epidemiology
- History
- Society and culture
- Mythology
- Pediatrics
- Other animals
- References
- External links
Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature set point in the hypothalamus. There is no single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature: sources use values ranging between in humans.
The increase in set point triggers increased muscle contractions and causes a feeling of cold or chills. This results in greater heat production and efforts to conserve heat. When the set point temperature returns to normal, a person feels hot, becomes flushed, and may begin to sweat. Rarely a fever may trigger a febrile seizure, with this being more common in young children. Fevers do not typically go higher than .