Causes and Risk Factors
A higher-than-normal body temperature can be caused by several factors. Fever is believed to be a critical component of the body’s defense mechanism and it typically occurs in response to infection or inflammation. When the body is fighting an infection, the blood and lymphatic systems produce white blood cells (WBCs) that act as the body’s army to combat the germs. The body’s internal temperature rises as the white blood cells proceed to eliminate the infectious germs. A temperature of 100°F or 101°F is considered to be within acceptable range because it demonstrates that the body is warding off the infection without any external measures. However, if the temperature increases further, corrective measures must be taken to lower the fever.
Fever is a symptom of most ailments, including common cold, cough, tonsillitis, otitis media, the flu, bronchitis, tetanus, measles, mumps, chicken pox, pneumonia and other such viral or bacterial infections. Some other causes of fever are medications, fatigue or exhaustion, poisons, heat exposure, injuries or abnormalities to the brain, and disease of the endocrine (hormonal) system.