eLetters to:

ARTICLE: Michael Crocetti, Nooshi Moghbeli, and Janet Serwint Fever Phobia Revisited: Have Parental Misconceptions About Fever Changed in 20 Years? Pediatrics 2001; 107: 1241-1246 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

eLetters: Submit a response to this article

eLetters published:

The Biggest Culprit of All

Cory Mermer   (4 June 2001)

Untitled

David E Bratt   (19 June 2001)

Response to Dr. Bratt's letter

Michael Crocetti   (20 June 2001)

Fever Phobia indeed

Ellen K Sweeney,RN   (26 June 2002)

The Biggest Culprit of All 4 June 2001
Cory Mermer, Medical Researcher/Writer Send letter to journal: Re: The Biggest Culprit of All camermer{at}home.com Cory Mermer	Probably the greatest single cause of parental "fever phobia" is advertisements, especially on TV. These commercials make all kinds of vague and obscure statements meant to mislead the public. For example, they will things like "for your peace of mind..." or "because you care enough..." or similar other meaningless things. The obvious unstated goal of these statements is to make parents think that anti-pyretics will save their children's lives. Therefore, if you are a good parent who deeply loves their children, you almost can't help but to have "fever phobia". Lastly, I don't mean to let doctors off the hook and blame everything on television. Pediatricians need to communicate better to their patients about the real risks and benefits of fever. When doctors just tell parents to give anti-pyretics when the fever goes above a certain level, say 101F, then many parents automatically assume that this is a "dangerous" fever and that the drugs will help prevent harm. In reality, the main purpose of anti-pyretics are really to provide a little comfort. If doctors were more clear to their patients about this, there would be a lot less "fever phobia" around.
Untitled 19 June 2001
David E Bratt, Paediatrician Private Practice Send letter to journal: Re: this article dbratt{at}trinidad.net David E Bratt	Seems to me that this statement taken from your article, "Caregivers who stated that they were very worried about fever were more likely in the past to have had a child who was evaluated for a fever, to have had blood work performed on their child during a febrile illness, and to have perceived their doctors to be very worried about fever", goes to the heart of the matter. How can we expect parents not to worry about fever when we ourselves cannot agree about what to do when a child has fever?
Response to Dr. Bratt's letter 20 June 2001
Michael Crocetti Send letter to journal: Re: Response to Dr. Bratt's letter stx{at}jhmi.edu Michael Crocetti	Thanks to Dr. Bratt for his letter. Unfortunately, we do not know from this study what impact physician-directed or parent-directed practices have on fever phobia. Until we have the ability to easily detect children with a serious bacterial illness I suspect that a certain amount of laboratory testing will continue on children with fever and no source. The good news is that with the success of the HiB vaccine and the potential for the conjugate pneumococcal vaccine we may see a drastic decline in overall bacteremia and its sequella. Even if all of these things happen children will develop fever. Therefore, pediatric providers need to continue to educate their families on the proper management of fever and dispel the myths about the damaging effects of fever. Until this behavior is pervasive fever phobia will persist. Michael Crocetti, MD.
Fever Phobia indeed 26 June 2002
Ellen K Sweeney,RN, Telephone Triage nurse Metrohealth Medical center Send letter to journal: Re: Fever Phobia indeed ellensweeney56{at}hotmail.com Ellen K Sweeney,RN	In searching for literature, to upgrade our knowledge base,I came across this article,just about the time I ended a call from a doctor concerned about his child's fever of 103F, with puffy eyes and a slight rhinorrhea. Child did not show toxic signs. The father was aggresively treating the fever with alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin. He wanted to administer an antibiotic. Duration of sx < 30 hrs. Most of the fever phobia seems to be fostered by the medical community itself. Seems often times no explanation to the pt or pt's caregivers about the cause and purpose of fevers is given during a visit. It seems that there may be a lack of understanding about cause and effect of fevers amongst medical providers as well. We, as triage nurses, spend a lot of time educating pts and caregivers about fevers. I am often perplexed about the lack of knowledge amongst doctors and nurses regarding the need to support the body during illness ,in its effort to heal. Ellen Sweeney,RN