Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] Hi we are now in a foreign country, Colombia on vacation and about 2 days ago my sister got a fever, she was throwing up and her fever was getting worse, we took her to a doctor and they gave her an IV with aspirin for her fever, and a shot in her butt, which they assumed was an infection. Now 2 days later, she has a fever only, and a fast heart beat, we dont know if we should take her to the hospital or not? She is 12 years old and her heart rate is 140 bpm. Help us please
[|AI|]  Hello and thank you for using Chat Doctor. I carefully read your question and i totally understand your concern bur don't worry, it is nothing serious. I will try to explain you something. The heart is the major organ that supplies our body for all its necessities. Let me explain what happen during an infection. Our total body is in war with the microorganism that coursed the infection. All our immunity system in mobilized wining this war. All our body needs more energies to win this battle, so our heart needs to fulfill the body necessity for more energies, more blood. Through a compensatory mechanism our heart increases the frequency beating faster to fulfill these needs. So during an infection, during a high fever it is quite normal for the heart to beat faster. We expect that the maximal rate of our heart might go up to 220 minus the age of the body. So for a little girl it is quite normal this frequency since the organism is beating an infection. When she will start to recover, every thing will go to normal values. So you should not take her to the hospital for this reason, only if she doesn't recover with her fever or other symptoms of infection. Wish I was helpful. Don't worry, she will be all right soon. Best regards.