Fever is a common symptom of childhood
illness, and much time and eVort is spent
in the pursuit of reducing high temperature.
Although antipyretic drugs are the
main form of treatment, this report
considers the part that physical treatments
might play in reducing the temperature
of febrile children. Such
treatments include tepid sponging, removing
clothing, and cooling the environment.
Of these treatments, tepid sponging
has been studied most extensively, as an
addition to paracetamol, but seems to
oVer little advantage over paracetamol
alone. It is likely that other methods might
be equally ineVective because they all rely
on similar methods of heat loss.