Fever - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

# Fever

### From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

People get a fever when their body temperature is hotter than 37.5 degrees celsius (99.5 Fahrenheit). Normal body temperature for humans is around 36.6 to 37 degrees celsius (98 to 98.6 F) or a bit higher after a lot of exercise. These numbers are for an temperature taken from under the tongue. Rectal temperatures will read about 0.3 C (0.55 F) higher, and armpit temperatures will read about the same amount lower.

When people are ill, their body's immune system fights the disease, and so the body temperature rises.

About 38.9 C (102 F) degrees is called a low-grade fever, and above 39.4 C (103 F) degrees is a high-grade fever.

Children usually have a higher fever than adults; their immune system is less mature. Infants have the highest normal temperature, which decreases as people age. Some animals, especially small ones like rabbits and cats, also have a higher normal temperature than humans.

## [edit] External links

- Shands HealthCare article on fever
- American Academy of Pediatrics article on home treatment of fevers

This short article can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.
Retrieved from "http://simple.wikipedia.org../../../f/e/v/Fever.html"

Categories: Health | Symptoms

##### Views

- Article
- Talk
- Newest version

##### Search

##### In other languages

- Česky
- Dansk
- Deutsch
- English
- Español
- Euskara
- Français
- Ido
- Italiano
- עברית
- Latina
- Lingála
- Bahasa Melayu
- Nederlands
- 日本語
- ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬
- ‪Norsk (nynorsk)‬
- پښتو
- Polski
- Português
- Runa Simi
- Русский
- Suomi
- Svenska
- Українська
- ייִדיש
- 中文