Management of the febrile child

Between 20% and 40% of young children suffer a feverish illness each year and many of these will present to their general practitioner. Although the majority of these children have benign, self-limiting illness, infection remains the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 years. Appropriate assessment, management and referral of the febrile child are important skills to acquire for doctors working in primary care. This article outlines the signs and symptoms of serious infective illness in children under 5 years of age and describes current National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for feverish illness in children and the use of the ‘traffic-light’ risk score in the context of face-to-face and remote assessment.