What should you know about chills?

Shivering may occur before a fever rises or while the body responds to cold. Chills with cough and breathing symptoms can accompany influenza or pneumonia. Chills with urinary symptoms or side pain can occur with a kidney infection or urinary tract infection. In a person who has recently travelled or lives in an area where it occurs, malaria or dengue fever may also need consideration. Chills alone cannot identify one diagnosis.

Rest, keep comfortably warm, and take fluids if you can drink normally. Check your temperature if you have a thermometer and note associated symptoms, recent travel, sick contacts, new medicines, or an insect bite. Use fever medicine only if it is suitable for you and follow the label or a clinician’s advice. Arrange review if chills recur, last beyond a short illness, or occur with worsening pain or fever.

Get urgent help for confusion, severe breathlessness, blue or grey lips, fainting, a rapidly worsening illness, or inability to keep fluids down. Chills with a very unwell appearance can be a warning of sepsis. Seek prompt assessment after travel to a malaria area, especially with fever, or when severe headache, unusual bleeding, or intense abdominal pain accompanies fever.

Could an infection explain my chills? Do I need testing based on my temperature, examination, or travel history? Which changes should prompt emergency care?