Viral fever symptoms and treatment

Have a body temperature of approximately 98.6°F or 37°C is normaland all that goes above 100.4°F is considered a fever. When you have a cold or flu, your body temperature rises rapidly due to the viral infection.

Moreover, nowadays, people mostly resort to self-medication instead of consulting an experienced doctor, which increases the risk of having multiple health complications when suffering from viral fever.

Viral fever can occur in anyone with the following symptoms:

• Intense joint and muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Fatigue
• Runny nose
• An increase in your body temperature
• Chills
• Dehydration
• Eye redness
• Rashes
• And loss of appetite

Although these symptoms of viral fever disappears in about 3 to 5 dayspeople should always seek the advice of a doctor if symptoms persist.

Viral fever symptoms in adults

Fever is actually your body’s immune response to disease-causing pathogens like viruses and bacteria. It is when your body’s immune system detects the entry of such foreign bodies into your body that it triggers an automatic immune response that raises your body temperature.

In order to identify the symptoms of viral fever in adults, we can check your body temperature using a thermometer orally or through the rectum and tympanic membrane.

If the temperature of your rectum, armpits, ear or even your mouth is above 38.0°C, this indicates that the adult has a viral fever.

Other common symptoms of viral fever in adults are

• Frequent chills
• Muscular weakness
• To sneeze
• Bitter taste
• No hunger at all.

Types of viral fever

Depending on the area affected by viral fever, viral fever can be classified into the following types:

When your respiratory tract is affected by the virus, usually its lower or upper part, it is called respiratory viral fever. Some common types of viral respiratory infections are:

• Common cold
• Flu
• Coryza
• Laryngitis
• Bronchitis

SARS-Covid-19 caused by the new coronavirus, is the viral infection that is currently ravaging the whole world and also falls under the same category.

This type of viral infection mainly affects your digestive tract with severity. Gastrointestinal viral fever, also known as stomach flu, often commonly results in a health condition called gastroenteritis.

When viral infections affect your skin in addition to causing high fever, these infections are called exanthematous viral infections. Some common types of exanthematous infections are:

• Varicella
• Measles
• Rubella and
• Roseola

Some of the known viruses can cause life-threatening situations through the symptoms of hemorrhagic manifestations, and a family of viruses that belongs to them is called hemorrhagic virus. They usually raise your body temperature to a much higher level.

A virus known to specifically infect the central nervous system is called neurotropic virus and these viruses are capable of causing serious neurological infections.

Duration of viral fever

Viral fever is usually quite acute and spreads more often during changing seasons like the monsoon season. The duration of viral fever for most viral infections usually lasts up to 3 to 5 days. However, in some of case of viral infectionviral fever seems to last up to 14 days and more.

Viral fever is generally not considered a common illness or disease, but results from an underlying viral infection that occurs in your body. It is also commonly found in children and people with weak immunity. This viral fever results from the fight that your body’s immune system is waging against foreign viral antigens and indicates the viral infection. Sometimes these types of viral fever may go undiagnosed, which in turn leads to serious complications.

What causes viral fever?

Your body’s immune system responds with a high temperature or fever as it fights off foreign pathogens. The immune system of the body is naturally triggered to fight back when faced with certain harmful pathogens like bacteria and viruses that somehow enter your body.

The body temperature rises to a high level when this exact behavior takes place. Viruses are usually transmitted by:

Inhalation of air droplets

Air droplets from an infected person talking, coughing or sneezing standing close to you, without covering their face with anything. When such droplets are inhaled, they can lead to infection.

Food indigestion

You are quite susceptible to contracting an infection if you eat contaminated food without knowing it. Viruses infect your food, so you might easily get infected with such contaminations when you eat infected food.

mosquito bites

The monsoon is when mosquitoes breed mainly and rapidly in standing water, leading to an outbreak of a common and severely known disease like dengue fever and malaria. It is also very possible to get infected with viral fevers caused by mosquito bites.

Exchange of bodily fluids

Infections such as Hepatitis B, HIV and viral infection can be contracted from transfusions of contaminated blood pricked by an infected needle. They can also be sexually transmitted.

Viral fever treatments

The preliminary step that must first be focused on in the treatment of a viral fever is to seek to reduce the symptoms of the fever. In most cases, you may not want treatment for viral fever because your body’s immune system fights well against these foreign pathogens like viruses and sometimes recovers on its own.

However, if the condition of the person infected with the virus does not normalize within 4-5 days, the person should be treated for viral fever under the supervision of a doctor.

How to control viral fever?

By following certain medically advised steps in order to treat the symptoms of viral fever, you can significantly lessen its effects.

• If you suffer from a viral fever, take medication prescribed by an experienced doctor in time to effectively reduce its symptoms.
• Regularly take the antiviral medication prescribed for your condition, which you should take as directed by the doctor.
• Give your body enough rest.
• Keep your body hydrated by consuming a good amount of water.
• Eat lighter, easily digestible meals.

Bacteria are fairly tiny microorganisms that are usually made up of single cells. They are very diverse in nature and can have several types of shapes and other structural features.

Bacteria are able to live in every conceivable environment, such as in or on the human body.

Only a handful of bacteria are capable of causing bacterial fever in humans which can be treated by taking antibiotics. These bacteria are called pathogenic bacteria.

Whereas if we talk about viral infection then it is caused by viruses which are other types of microorganisms which are also tiny although they are still much smaller than bacteria. Like bacteria, they are also very diverse in nature and have a variety of characteristics and shapes.

Viruses are actually parasites. This means that they need any type of living cells or tissues in which they can grow and cause viral fever, whereas antibiotics cannot cure viral fever.

Take away

Viral fever is a fever that results from a viral infection, such as influenza or dengue fever. While most viral fevers go away on their own within a day or two, some are more serious and require medical treatment. If your temperature is 103°F (39°C) or higher, it’s time to see a doctor. Otherwise, try to rest properly and stay hydrated.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is Dolo 650 good for viral fever?

Most of the time, taking a paracetamol tablet like Dolo 650 helps to reduce your body temperature which is rising due to viral fever.

2. Can viral fever be treated at home?

By taking some home remedies we can cure the viral infection at the site of our house like drinking enough water and taking herbal formula but if the symptoms get worse then be sure to consult the doctor as soon as possible.

3. Are bacterial fevers higher than viral?

Although the degree of any type of fever cannot be differentiated on the basis of viral and bacterial illnesses, high fever is generally linked to a higher incidence of serious bacterial illnesses such as meningitis or pneumonia.

The references

1. Is it a Bacterial infection or virus?