Thursday, August 26, 2010

of fever and body temperature

My baby boy is unwell. He had a slight fever. Think he got it from his dad. Yeah.. his dad just recovered (and still recovering) from his 3 days fever. Being our own 'doctor', I tried to estimate how high the fever is. We had our own thermometer yet never sure of the normal body temperature. So done bit of searching and found out that the average temperature for adult is 37°C. From Wikipedia, 

In adult men and women the normal range for oral temperature (under the tongue) is 33.2–38.2 °C (92–101 °F), for rectal it is 34.4–37.8 °C (94–100 °F), for the Tympanic cavity it is 35.4–37.8 °C (96–100 °F) and for axillary (under the armpit) it is 35.5–37.0 °C (96–99 °F).  

Do you know that actually our body temperature is different during the night and day?

Body temperature normally fluctuates over the day, with the lowest levels around 4 a.m. and the highest in the late afternoon, between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.(assuming the person sleeps at night and stays awake during the day). Therefore, an oral temperature of 37.2 °C (99.0 °F) would, strictly speaking, be normal in the afternoon but not in the morning.

Never knew this before.

The temperature reading depends on which part of the body is being measured. Measurements are commonly taken in the mouth, the ear, the anus, or the armpit. In females, the vagina can also be used. The median daytime temperature among healthy adults are as follows:
  • Temperature in the anus (rectum/rectal), vagina, or in the ear (otic) is about 37.6 °C (99.7 °F)
  • Temperature in the mouth (oral) is about 36.8 °C (98.2 °F)
  • Temperature under the arm (axillary) is about 36.4 °C (97.6 °F)
The full article could be find here.

And oh yea.. according to Bupa, child's body temperature is more or less same with adult.

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