39°C) nor response to antipyretic therapy is a reliable indicator of infection. Peak fever in burned children without infection usually occurs on the second day after the burn, with a second peak around the sixth and seventh days. Fever is probably the result of an increase in metabolic rate and an alteration of hypothalamic temperature regulation. Fever usually subsides without specific therapy, coincident with re-epithelialization of the burn wound or successful grafting of all open areas. Thus, fever alone in the burned child is not a reliable indicator of infection or of the need to investigate for infection or prescribe antibiotic therapy."">