Q1.
Can it always be correctly judged, that a person has fever, only by touching the person?
Answer
No. Touching can only give a rough hint. It can never tell us how much the temperature is, and it can easily be wrong.
Why it happens: when you touch someone’s forehead, your skin does not measure temperature — it only compares the forehead with your own hand. If your hand is cold (say you have just washed clothes in cold water), a perfectly normal forehead will feel hot. If your hand is warm, a person with mild fever may feel normal.
This is exactly what happens in the story at the start of the chapter:
- Phiban touched Lambok’s forehead and felt that he might be having a fever.
- She then used a thermometer — and found his temperature was normal.
A thermometer gives a number, such as 37.0 °C or 38.5 °C, which can be compared with the normal value of 37.0 °C. Touch gives no number at all.
Tip: A mild fever may raise the body temperature by less than 1 °C. Your skin simply cannot notice such a small change — but a thermometer can.