What should you know about hot and cold chills?

Chills are involuntary shivering or a sensation of cold. They can happen as the body raises its internal temperature during an infection, so you may shiver while your skin feels hot or a thermometer shows a fever. Influenza, pneumonia, urinary tract infection and kidney infection are possible causes. In the UAE and other regions where mosquito-borne illness occurs, malaria and dengue fever also require consideration after relevant travel or exposure. The symptom alone cannot identify the cause.

Check your temperature with a reliable thermometer and note when the chills began, how long they last and which symptoms accompany them. Rest, drink fluids if you can, wear comfortable layers and avoid overheating under heavy blankets. Consider your recent travel, insect exposure, sick contacts, urinary symptoms, cough and breathing changes. Arrange medical advice if chills recur, persist or occur with fever; do not self-start antibiotics or antimalarial medicine without assessment.

Seek emergency help for confusion, extreme drowsiness, severe breathlessness, blue or grey lips, fainting, a seizure, cold clammy skin, severe weakness or rapidly worsening illness. Urgent assessment is needed for high fever with a stiff neck, severe headache, persistent vomiting, severe abdominal pain, a new rash, or chills after recent travel to a malaria-risk area. Sepsis can develop from an infection and needs rapid treatment.

Ask which examinations or tests may identify the cause, whether your travel or medication history changes the assessment, how to manage fever safely, and which symptoms should send you to an emergency department. Mention pregnancy, long-term conditions and reduced immunity.