Overheating in neonates in Saudi Arabia

During the summers of 1992 and 1993, twenty babies from the Southwestern region of Saudi Arabia were admitted to the paediatric ward in view of fever due to overheating. They represented 77% of the total babies admitted with pyrexia due to both environmental overheating and infection. Their symptomatology was different from the infected group. Although all babies in this series had uneventful recovery, overheating remains a potentially serious condition that might lead to dangerous complications. The aim of this paper is to draw the attention of physicians working in similar environments to its occurrence. It is essential and crucial to exclude infection before the cause is wholly attributed to overheating alone.