What is Considered a Low-grade Fever

We are all aware that our body functions within a normal temperature range. Anything above or below the normal temperature indicates health problems. The normal oral body temperature of a healthy man or woman is 92 - 101 °F (33.2 - 38.2 °C). This normal temperature range depends of different factors and may vary from person to person. Many times age, sex, time of the day, physical activity level, hormones, exercising, can raise the body temperature. But this does not always mean a person is suffering from fever. There are different types of fevers depending on the pattern of temperature changes. One of the commonly observed fever is a low-grade fever.

Low-grade Fever
A fever indicates that your body is trying to fight off an infection or overcome an illness. It is a good sign that shows your immune system is doing its best to remove the bacteria or virus that is invading your system. There are many other medical problems that may lead to fever. These include autoimmune diseases, skin inflammation, tissue destruction, metabolic disorders, embolism or thrombosis, reaction to some substances within the body, infectious disease, etc. Even severe dehydration, heat stroke, use of drugs like cocaine, drug reactions, can lead to high body temperatures that are not considered as fever.

One such fever is called low-grade fever. A low-grade fever is the body temperature that is slightly higher than the normal body temperature. This means, a fever of about 98.6 °F to about 100.9 °F is considered to be a low-grade fever. A body temperature of about 101.1 °F to 102 °F is considered to be a mild fever.

Causes
There are different conditions that can lead to low-grade fever. It is very common to observe low-grade fever in infants and children as they fall prey to many diseases and infections. One of the causes in infants include teething. This one time when you may encounter persistent fever in infants. Other causes include infections and conditions like:

• Rubella
• Measles
• Mumps
• Chickenpox
• Scarlet fever
• Hepatitis
• Typhoid
• Flu
• Mononucleosis
• Allergies
• Chronic abscess
• Myositis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
• Wound Infection

As you can see a wide number of causes can lead to low-grade fever. Also, persistent fever that cannot be explained, or lack of known cause is termed as fever of unknown origin.

Symptoms
The symptoms are very simple to spot. One may suffer from bouts of cold, shivering, increase in heart rate, muscle tone, malaise, weakness, lethargy and show signs of sleepiness. Other symptoms are related to the disease, illness or condition that lead to elevation of normal body temperature.

Treatment
Low-grade fever mostly does not require any treatment. Many people tend to recover by taking rest for a couple of days. When one suffers from fever, they should remain hydrated at all times. If the person is not able to drink a lot of water, giving them juices, Popsicle and other non-alcoholic beverages may prove to be helpful. The doctor may prescribe over the counter medications like ibuprofen or aspirin. Acetaminophen is the choice of medication for low-grade fever in children. However, make sure the fever does not elevate to a high-grade fever that may have serious implications on health.

A persistent low-grade fever requires medical diagnosis. If one continues to have persistent low-grade fever for more than 5 days, it is advisable to seek medical help for treating the condition as soon as possible.