Can febrile convulsions be prevented?
As a convulsion of this kind is caused by a rapid rise in temperature, usually at the start of a bacterial or viral illness, the best form of prevention is to keep a child’s temperature down. Remove any warm clothing and give liquid paracetamol. Unfortunately, other than this, there aren’t any really effective tactics you can use. If a child is over the age of one when they have their first febrile convulsion, they have around a one in three chance of having more. But if it happens before the age of one, the chance of having another rises to one in two. The length of time that the convulsion lasts is also important. If a first convulsion lasts a long time – rarely, this can be up to 15 minutes – further convulsions are more likely in the future.
