Ask the experts
My six-year-old son ran a fever for two days with no other symptoms except for a very mild headache and a little fatigue. The fevers ranged from 99.6 degrees up to 102.3 degrees. Is it possible for a virus to present itself this way, with fever only? Anytime my children run isolated fevers (no other overt symptoms), I guess I automatically think leukemia, so I need to be a bit more educated. I always feel better if they at least say their throat or their ears hurt.
Doctor's response
Probably the #1 presentation for a "run of the mill" viral illness in your child's age range is an undulating, low-grade fever for 2-3 days.
As you point out often no other symptoms may be present. Two things may happen:
- The child gets over the fever and develops no further symptoms and has recovered, or
- the child resolves the fever but other symptoms (eg. runny nose and cough) develop which indicate the immune system loss the battle with that specific virus which has now localized to a particular region of the child's body.
Generally, in your child's age range, after 48-72 hours of fever you should contact your doctor's office and review the situation.
