Fever

How to measure a fever. The thermometer

Mum told Dad that Tina had a fever. Dad got near to his daughter, bent down a little bit, held her head with his hands, and before she had time to move, put his lips on her forehead. “Yes”, confirmed Dad.

It is possible to find out if someone has a fever by touching the person’s forehead. But, to be completely sure, the best thing is to use a thermometer.

Nowadays, the thermometers we use are digital or electronic.

Kinds of thermometers:

	Conventional thermometer.
	Thermal dummy.
	Tympanic thermometer.

With the thermometer we take the temperature of our body. We can put it in various places:

	Under our arm, in our armpit.
	In our mouth.
	In the rectum, that is, our bottom.
	In the ear.

Whenever we use the thermometer, we have to keep still and follow the instructions of our parents, grand-parents, teachers, nurses, or baby-sitters. It is not too annoying, because we find out very quickly whether we have a fever or not.

We have a fever when the thermometer shows the following numbers, or higher ones:

	38ºC (if the temperature is taken in the rectum)
	37.5ºC (if the temperature is taken in the mouth)
	37.2ºC (if the temperature is taken in the armpit)

You have probably heard it said that: “the child has tenths of a degree”. That is the way that your grandmother would say that you have a slight fever.