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A study in animals has suggested an explanation for febrile seizures and a quick way of treating them - air enriched with carbon dioxide. Febrile fits or seizures in young children are pretty scary for parents. They usually occur with rapidly rising temperatures. The majority of febrile fits are uncomplicated but in maybe one in three children they do herald epilepsy. Many would have been heading for epilepsy anyway but it's thought that a really long fever fit can cause brain changes itself. A study in animals has suggested an explanation for febrile seizures and a quick way of treating them. The researchers increased the temperature of young and old rats and found that a high temperature induced rapid breathing to help cool them down, which in the rat pups got rid of carbon dioxide and made their blood alkaline. The more alkaline the young rats' blood, the more likely were seizures. And letting these young rats breathe air enriched with carbon dioxide got rid of the convulsions within 20 seconds. The next step would be to study babies and toddlers with febrile fits to see if they're alkalotic too and then perhaps doing a trial of enriched carbon dioxide. It'd be nice to have a non-drug treatment for this condition.
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