When is Body Temperature Too High

People often get sick and run a fever, especially if the cause is an infection. It is medically considered good to run a fever at times. Fever is also known as pyrexia in medical terms. It is also called controlled hyperthermia as the human body temperature rises above the normal range. Rise in body temperature occurs most often during an infection. It is one of the ways of the immune system to combat an infection to get rid of infectious agents in the body. Doctors tend to welcome a mild fever as it has a neutralizing effect on the bacteria or virus causing the illness. One may often suffer from chills along with fever as it is the body's natural way of stopping the temperature from rising further. However, if the body temperature during fever continues to rise further, it will lead to serious complications. The information below will help you seek medical help and prevent complications due to very high elevated temperatures.

What is Normal Body Temperature

Before one understands what is considered as a very high body temperature, it is important to know what is normal body temperature. The average oral body temperature of an adult human is about 98.6°F (37°C). It is quite normal to have a body temperature that is 1°F above or below the normal body temperature. The change in body temperature occurs throughout the day due to level of activity of an individual, environmental conditions, hormonal levels, etc. When one measures the temperature of the armpit, it is found that the body temperature is 0.5°F to 1°F lower than the oral temperature reading. A rectal or tympanic membrane (ear) reading of the body temperature is often found to be about 0.5°F to 1°F higher than the oral temperature. Anything above the normal body temperature, depending on how high it is, is considered to be a low-grade fever, moderate grade fever or high-grade fever.

When is Human Body Temperature Too High

Many times medications like antibiotics, barbiturates, antihistamines, etc., and leads to fever. This condition is called drug fevers that are caused by medications that interferes with the body's ability to readjust the temperature leading to a rise. Infections is another common cause of fevers apart from stroke, heat exhaustion, burns. There are medical conditions that can lead to fever like arthritis, hyperthyroidism, cancer, etc.

A body temperature of about 98.6 °F to about 100.9 °F is considered as a low-grade fever. If the body temperature rises further to about 101.1 °F to 102 °F, it is considered as a mild fever. Well, if the body temperature reaches 102 °F to 104 °F, it is considered as high fever. This high fever state is also called hyperthermia. It is a condition where the body absorbs more heat or produces more heat. It generally occurs due to heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat rash and sunburn. This medical emergency can lead to death if not treated as soon as possible. In hyperthermia, the body temperature tends to rise above its own set point of high temperature as it cannot cool itself by normal sweating. This prevents the heat from the body from dissipating leading to rise in body temperature.

Is it possible for human body temperature to rise even higher? Yes, it is. The body temperature that is higher than or equal to 106.7 °F (41.5 °C), is considered to be hyperpyrexia. This is a condition where the body temperature rises so high that it can literally fry the body inside out. This medical emergency is caused by conditions such as sepsis, Kawasaki syndrome, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, serotonin syndrome, intracranial hemorrhage, etc. Bacterial and viral agents that can lead to such a high temperature include roseola, rubeola and enteroviral infections.

It is very important to control high body temperature as soon as possible and bring it to normal. This is because most of the body's enzymes work at normal body temperature. Rise in body temperature can lead to their breakdown and cause many other medical complications. Extremely high body temperature (106.7 °F) can cause brain damage and even lead to heart and lung damage. If such high temperature not controlled soon, it may lead to death.

If you or someone you know has fever, use cold compress to keep the body temperature in control. If the fever does not subside in 5 days or reaches abnormally high body temperatures, contact a doctor immediately. Hope, you have found the above information useful to understand the different between a low-grade, moderate grade and high-grade body temperature.