What is the risk of suffering a febrile convulsion?
Children may inherit the tendency to suffer febrile convulsion from their parents. • If either parent suffered a febrile convulsion as a child, the risk of the child getting it rises 10 to 20 per cent. • If both parents and their child have at some point suffered a febrile convulsion, the risk of another child getting it rises 20 to 30 per cent. Nevertheless, the child’s susceptibility also depends on whether the child frequently gets infections. About 4 out of 10 children who have had febrile convulsions will get them again at some stage, although the risk differs greatly from child to child. The child’s risk of febrile convulsion rises if: • they are genetically predisposed to it • they suffer frequent illnesses, which include high temperatures • the first attack of febrile convulsion was accompanied by a relatively low body temperature – below 39ºC. One in a thousand children may suffer a febrile convulsion after receiving the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine. In these cases it
