High fever. Experience in private practice
W. A. Tomlinson
Experience with confirmed high fever, 40 C (104 F) or more, in a private
practice during 14 years is presented. The records of 1,500 patients
covering 8,000 patient years disclosed only 108 confirmed episodes of high
fever. Eleven diagnostic categories included 149 diagnoses. Fourteen of 43
roentgenographic examinations yielded positive findings, including two
cases of pneumonia not detected on physical examination. Two of six stool
cultures yielded specific enteric pathogens. Convulsions occurred in 12 of
the 108 episodes of high fever, and recurred only once in one child. There
were no deaths in this series of children with high fevers. Only one
diagnosis, pneumonia, was significantly more frequent in confirmed high
fever than in unconfirmed high fever. Lastly, the ability of a group of
mothers to read thermometers set at three different temperatures proved to
be surprisingly good.
