Fever reducers don't slow children's recovery
A review of past research finds that fever-reducing drugs have no effect on the speed of children's recovery from an infection, contrary to the fears of some doctors and parents. Researchers have debated for decades whether lowering a sick child's fever helps the recovery process or interferes with the body's ability to fight the infection. Some previous research has shown that giving children fever-reducing "antipyretic" medications, such as acetaminophen, after vaccinations interfered with their immune responses to the vaccines, for example.