Il sintomo febbre: l'interpretazione e la corretta gestione

Abstract

In paediatric age, fever represents one of the main reasons for parental concern and the main cause of access to the emergency room. Against "fever phobia", it is essential that the paediatrician spends some time explaining to parents that fever is a defence mechanism against infection and that it should be treated rationally, with the objective of making the child feel better and not making them heal faster. Furthermore, it is useful to provide parents with indications on how to measure body temperature and advice on clinical signs to pay attention to, besides fever. Indeed, in addition to temperature, there are other parameters to evaluate in a febrile child, some clearly measurable, others for which it is necessary for the doctor to evaluate the child "face to face". It is on this issue that the main guidelines on the management of febrile children are based, whose objective is to help the paediatrician to identify those few children who have a severe disease and therefore deserve prompt treatment and investigations. The article shows current evidence on the role of fever, the most correct methods for its measurement, the reasonable use of drugs for the symptomatic control of fever and the approach to be followed in the management of fever in the child aged less than 5 years.