Title: Checking her temperature
Course: Antenatal Care Part 1 - Ethiopia (Full)

Checking her temperature

Body temperature is a measurement of how hot or cold the internal tissues of the body are. Although it varies a little bit in hot or cold weather, or if the person is wearing too many or too few clothes, or doing heavy physical work, it generally stays close to a value known as 'normal' temperature, unless the person is ill. Body temperature is measured using an instrument called a thermometer (Figure 9.2a), which has a 'bulb' at one end, usually filled with a silver liquid metal called mercury. (Some glass thermometers contain a red dye instead, and some use digital technology -- see Figure 9.2b.) In a glass thermometer, when the bulb of mercury is warmed by a person's body, the mercury expands and rises up the thin glass tube, which is marked with numbers showing the person's body temperature.

Figure 9.2 (a) Glass thermometers may measure temperature in degrees Celsius (top) or Fahrenheit (below). (b) A digital thermometer shows the temperature as a number in a window.

Healthy temperature

Normal temperature is close to 37°C, or just under 98°F. The woman does not feel hot to touch.

Warning sign

The woman has a fever -- a temperature of above 37.5°C (or 100°F) or above. She feels hot to touch.

Figure 9.3 You can easily feel if she is hotter than you.