Introduction
One of the largest sub-groups of patients seen in
out-of-hours care are children up to five years of age who
have a fever. Most of these children will have self-limiting
illnesses that require symptomatic treatment only and
observation. Some will require specific treatment in
primary care and a few will require further assessment
by a paediatric specialist in secondary care. Each child
presenting comes with a particular patient history, so it
is necessary to proceed in a well reasoned and consistent
way. It is important to differentiate between those
children with a relatively low risk of threatening illness
and those who have a higher risk