OBJECTIVE To clarify clinical characteristics of children with febrile convulsions during primary human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The clinical characteristics of first febrile convulsion were compared between those with and without primary HHV-6 infection in 105 children. HHV-6 infection was verified by culture or acute/convalescent anti-HHV-6 antibody titres. RE...

The term febrile convulsion is not a diagnostic entity. It simply describes any seizure that occurs in response to a febrile stimulus. It usually occurs between the age of 3 months and 5 years and occurs in 2-4% of young children. The typical febrile convulsion is a generalized tonic clonic seizure lasting between a few seconds and 15 minutes, followed by a period of drowsiness. Febrile seizure...

Mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) has been linked to prolonged febrile seizures. The sequence of changes in the temporal lobe/hippocampus following prolonged febrile seizures and status epilepticus is beginning to be elucidated. We obtained repeated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetric analysis of the hippocampi in a 23-month-old boy after a prolonged focal febrile seizure. Three days afte...

Vaccines can cause fever, and fever in young children can lead to febrile seizures; these facts are not new. Febrile seizures are the most common seizure disorder of childhood and occur in ∼5% of all children, usually those younger than 24 months. We know that vaccines, often administered to children in this age group, can trigger febrile seizures. The article by Duffy et al1 in this edition of...

A child with a febrile seizure is a common cause of admission in a general paediatric ward in Malaysia. We set out to look prospectively into the clinical and epidemiological features of these children. A total of 117 children were admitted into the study. The ratio of boys to girls were 1.5:1.0. The racial breakdown was 62.4% Malays, 26.5% Indians, 8.5% Chinese and 2.6% others. The first febri...

It has been described that febrile seizures during infancy increase risk of subsequent non-febrile seizures during the adulthood. However, latency period between febrile seizure and the onset of the first spontaneous seizure has not been evaluated. The present study was designed to investigate the susceptibility to subsequent seizures in immature rats that had experienced early-life hyperthermi...

1. Leung AK, Hon KL, TN. Febrile seizures: An overview. Drugs Context. 2018; 7: 1–12. https://doi.org/10.7573/dic.21.... CrossRef Google Scholar

The causes of febrile convulsions are usually benign. Such convulsions are common in children and their long-term consequences are rare. However, other causes of seizures, such as intracranial infections, must be excluded before diagnosis, especially in infants and younger children. Diagnosis is based mainly on history taking, and further investigations into the condition are not generally need...