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Febrile Seizures

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  • #x203A; Attacks precipitated by fever can be epileptic or non-epileptic.

  • › Children with febrile seizures (FSs) are not considered to have epilepsy since their seizure only occurs when the child is febrile (acute symptomatic seizure).

  • › FSs do not constitute a homogeneous entity.

  • › The cumulative incidence of FSs in most countries is 2–5%.

  • › FSs usually occur between 6 months and 3 years. They peak at 18 months and it is rare for their onset to be after 6 years of age.

  • › FSs are divided into simple and complex. The latter have focal features and/or are prolonged and/or are repeated in the same illness.

  • › Viral illnesses, particularly human herpes virus 6, precipitate most FSs.

  • › One third of children who have one FS will have at least one recurrence.

  • › Recurrent FSs are more likely if the child was young at the time of the first seizure, the fever provoking the first seizure was relatively low, the child suffers from a lot of illness episodes and has a family history of FS.

  • › The risk of epilepsy following FSs is 7% at 25 years.

  • › Following one or more FS, risk factors for developing epilepsy are family history of epilepsy, neurodevelopmental problems and complex FS.

  • › The risk that a child with a FS will have bacterial meningitis is 0-4%.

  • › Routine brain imaging and EEG is not indicated following a FS.

  • › Regular prophylactic medication to prevent recurrent FSs is not recommended but rectal diazepam or buccal midazolam may be useful to stop further prolonged FSs.

Keywords

Status Epilepticus Kawasaki Disease Epileptic Seizure Febrile Seizure Febrile Convulsion 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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