Fever Seizures

Fever seizures (febrile seizures) are uncontrolled muscle spasms and unresponsiveness in a child. They usually last 1 to 3 minutes and are seldom serious.

Fever seizures are not a form of epilepsy. A seizure is likely to be fever-related if:

  • There is one seizure in a 24-hour period.
  • The seizure lasted less than 15 minutes.
  • The seizure affected the entire body, not just one side of the body.
  • The child is age 6 months to 5 years old.
  • The child does not have nervous system (neurological) problems.
  • The child has had fever seizures before.

Current as of: November 20, 2017

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine & Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine & H. Michael O'Connor, MD, MMEd, FRCPC - Emergency Medicine & David Messenger, BSc, MD, FRCPC, FCCP - Emergency Medicine, Critical Care Medicine