This is FALSE. Viruses can/do/often cause high grade fevers
“Fever is defined as body temperature ≥ 37.5 °C and is a normal physiological response to illness that facilitates and accelerates recovery.”
Note in other countries, fever in children is recognized from 38C
“However, in general, the level of fever (height of body temperature) is not an accurate independent measure of severity of illness in febrile children and cannot be used to distinguish between bacterial and viral infection “ (see article below)
“Fever in URTI is present in about 50% of older children and in 90% of infants and young children.
* Although high degrees of fever occur in viral and bacterial infections, high fever may predict serious bacterial infection.
* High fever (>39.5 °C) is often associated with influenza A virus infections, occurring in more than 50% of children. Adenovirus infection causes fever exceeding 40 °C in about 20%, while fever in rhinovirus infection is usually absent or mild.
* Fever associated with respiratory virus infection may last for 3–5 days. A prolonged duration of fever is however common. Fever lasting 5 days or longer occurs in over 30% of children with this infection. The longest duration of fever (>7 days) may occur in association with adenovirus. The shortest duration of fever is associated with parainfluenza 2 viruses.
* Fever enhances body’s immunity against infection, and antipyretics may negatively affect the outcome of the illness. Therefore antipyretics should only be given for symptomatic children, such as discomfort, and not for fever per se.
* Recurrent URTIs are mostly caused by viruses obtained from nursery attendance.
The knowledge that viruses can cause high and/or prolonged fever allows the physician to withhold antibiotic treatment and extensive investigations in children with prolonged fever who appear generally well, and common serious infections (e.g. UTI) have been excluded.” (See article below)
– [ ] Now remember in looking for a UTI, you need to consider the age and sex of the child and of course presenting symptoms.
The articles below talk about fever in children, causes, management etc
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7122655/#!po=0.256410
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8063696/
https://pediatrust.com/Fever-What-Is
Feel free to look for your own evidence based resources
