Expert: Mary Pat, R.N. - 11/5/2009

Question
my son will be two in december. He has been diagnosed with asthma and is constantly sick. He has had 6 different occasions where he suddenly got a high fever 102-104. He has also been told that he has had recurrent bronchitus (about 8 times). He is on albuterol and pulmicort and is supposed to be taking singulair but it kept him up for 2 days the first time i gave it to him, so i haven't given it since then. He doesn't have any other underlying conditions that i am aware of. I guess what i'm trying to ask is-are the sudden high fevers(almost always after waking up from a nap after being fine all day) related to the asthma in some way because everytime i take him to the doctor they tell me they can't find anything wrong with him other than the fever.

Answer
Dear Amy:

Fevers are usually a symptom of infection in the body and fever helps to fight those infections.  The fevers are not related to his asthma.  Bronchitis can cause fever to occur in some cases though.

If they persist in reoccurring it needs to be investigated.

Mary Pat