Little attention has been given to the relation between fever and the severity of bronchiolitis. Therefore, the relation between fever and the clinical course of 90 infants (59 boys, 31 girls) hospitalised during one season with bronchiolitis was studied prospectively. Fever (defined as a single recording > 38.0°C or two successive recording > 37.8°C) was present in 28 infants. These infants were older (mean age, 5.3 v 4.0 months), had a longer mean hospital stay (4.2 v 2.7 days), and a more severe clinical course (71.0% v 29.0%) than those infants without fever. Radiological abnormalities (collapse/consolidation) were found in 60.7% of the febrile group compared with 14.8% of the afebrile infants. These results suggest that monitoring of body temperature is important in bronchiolitis and that fever is likely to be associated with a more severe clinical course and radiological abnormalities. (Arch Dis Child 1999;81:231-234)

The incidence of rickets in 100 Iraqi infants with wheezy bronchitis (24%) exceeded by two and a half times that found in age-matched controls (9%), and by ten times when only those with severe rickets were considered. The reason for this is not entirely clear, but could be related to the fact that the infants with wheezy bronchitis weighed more and therefore had grown faster than the control group. This itself could be related to the higher incidence of breastfeeding in the infants with wheezy bronchitis. We wish to stress the importance of screening for rickets, particularly in those with wheezy bronchitis.

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