An animal model of life-threatening hyperthermia during infancy.

A mathematical model of heat balance in human infants suggests that it may be possible for severe hyperthermia to develop if an infant is unable to remove his blankets in response to overheating (thermal entrapment). This hypothesis was tested in an animal model of weanling piglets. Ten piglets were warmed in a radiant heater to rectal temperature of 41 degrees C to simulate a fever. Animals in the experimental and control groups were removed from the heater and covered with ordinary infant blankets (to a thickness of approximately 3 cm). Endogenously produced heat caused the animals to warm to 42 degrees C. At this point, the control animals were uncovered. They rapidly cooled to normal body temperature. Animals in the experimental group remained covered until they expired from hyperthermia at 43.9 +/- 0.7 degrees C (SD) after 96 +/- 43 (SD) min. These data show that lethal hyperthermia may result from thermal entrapment. This finding may help clarify the role that hyperthermia may play in illnesses such as hemorrhagic shock and encephalopathy syndrome and some cases of sudden infant death syndrome.