Cold and chills: what should you know?

Chills are episodes of shivering or feeling unusually cold. They may happen as a fever rises, even when the surrounding room feels warm. Influenza and other infections can cause chills alongside tiredness, aches, cough, sore throat or digestive symptoms. The combination of symptoms and your recent travel, exposure and medical history matters more than chills alone.

In regions where mosquito-borne infections occur, fever with chills after travel or outdoor exposure needs medical advice. Chills with burning urination, back pain, breathlessness, a new rash or marked weakness may point to an infection outside the airways and should not be dismissed as a simple cold.

Rest, drink fluids if you can, and wear light layers that can be removed as you warm up. Check your temperature if you have a thermometer and record when chills happen, along with other symptoms. Follow label directions for any fever medicine and check with a pharmacist if you have liver, kidney or stomach problems or take regular medicines. Avoid sharing drinks and wash hands while you are unwell.

Seek urgent help for confusion, fainting, severe breathing difficulty, blue or grey lips, a stiff neck, a seizure, severe dehydration or rapidly worsening illness. Prompt assessment is also needed for chills with severe headache, a spreading rash, persistent vomiting, chest pain, flank pain or very little urine. After travel to a malaria-risk area, fever or chills should be assessed promptly and the travel history stated clearly.

Tell your doctor when the chills began, whether fever was measured, and whether you have cough, urinary symptoms, abdominal pain, rash or recent travel. Ask whether testing is needed for influenza, a urinary tract infection, pneumonia or another infection, and which changes should trigger urgent review.