What is a Fever? And the 98.6 degree myth.

A discussion of the origin of the myth that normal body temperature is 98.6, as well as a discussion of what temperature we should use to define the presence of a fever.

Select References (Sorry, some of these are behind a paywall):

Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich and the evolution of clinical thermometry: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8011836/

Normal oral, rectal, tympanic and axillary body temperature in adult men and women: a systematic literature review: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12000...

Individual differences in normal body temperature: longitudinal big data analysis of patient records: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29237...

Decreasing human body temperature in the United States since the industrial revolution: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31908...

Using Smartphone Crowdsourcing to Redefine Normal and Febrile Temperatures in Adults: Results from the Feverprints Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... (I didn't include discussion of this study specifically, but it's still interesting - and not paywalled!)



#fever #COVID #COVID19