Child is one year old, the cause and response methods of convulsions during fever

Patient's question:

Patient Age: One year
Temperature: 38.7°C when it caused the child to have a seizure. Also, when the head temperature is normal, the body temperature is often high.
Duration and Onset of the Illness: The onset was sudden and unpredictable.
Current General Condition: Currently, we are always alert to the temperature status.
Medical History: No previous diagnosis or treatment history.
Treatment and Effectiveness: During regular treatment, only the high temperature was lowered, but the specific cause was not identified.
Ancillary Examinations: None.

Doctor's answer:

Your child is experiencing a high fever seizure. High fever seizures are commonly seen in children aged 6 months to 2 years, often occurring suddenly during a feverish illness. If the parents also had a history of high fever seizures in childhood, the likelihood of this child having a seizure is 3 to 10 times higher than other children. Possible causes of high fever seizures include colds, bronchitis, tonsillitis, and other upper respiratory infections. Seizures may occur when the body temperature rises rapidly, typically lasting about 10 minutes and involving generalized convulsions. Other infections, such as those affecting the urinary system, gastrointestinal tract, or central nervous system, that cause fever and seizures do not fall under the category of high fever seizures.
When a child experiences their first seizure, parents often panic. Seeing the child's body stiffen, head tilt backward, foam at the mouth, and lose consciousness, they may quickly hold the child close, shout loudly, and shake them vigorously. However, this is not appropriate. Instead, the child should be placed on a bed or tabletop, without a pillow under their head, to prevent saliva or mucus from being inhaled into the trachea. The collar should be quickly loosened to ensure an unobstructed airway. Physical cooling methods can be applied to children with high fever, such as placing a cold towel on the forehead, using alcohol or diluted with an equal amount of warm water to wipe the neck, armpits, and inner thighs. Additionally, the navel point (the upper one-third of the philtrum) can be pressed with fingernails to stop the seizure.
After these emergency measures, the child should be taken to the hospital immediately. Seizures can usually be stopped with sedatives and fever-reducing medications. Prolonged seizures may lead to hypoxia, severe cerebral edema, or even brain damage, which can affect the child's intelligence. Therefore, when a child has a seizure, it is essential to seek treatment at the nearest hospital first. The treatment principles remain the same in any hospital. After the incident, you can take the child to a larger specialized hospital for a definitive diagnosis to better address the underlying cause.
For children with a history of high fever seizures, fever-reducing medication should be administered as soon as their temperature reaches 38°C to prevent further seizures.