Having established that a child might have
a fever, it is important to understand the
physiological process of the condition. Fever
is part of the immune system’s inflammatory
response and it is a controlled action of the
thermoregulatory centre to raise the body
temperature above that associated with the
normal circadian rhythm (McIntyre 2011).
Fever results from a balance between pyrogenic
(fire) and cryogenic (ice) cytokines and
hormones. Pyrogenic cytokines and hormones
provide significant protection against infectious agents and cryogenic cytokines and hormones
prevent the body temperature from rising
too high (Kozak et al 2006).