Originally Posted by
OttawaMark
When I had appendix problems I had a high fever. I was ill. I was also non-contagious. The point is that high fever does not mean everyone around me will get sick.
Simply put - a high fever is not always an indication of communicable illness.
Precisely! A high fever usually (but not always!) indicates an infection. Depending on where that infection is and the immune status of the person, the infection may or may not be communicable. For example, somebody who's immune-compromised (e.g., an AIDS patient) can get a very high fever from an infection with an organism that wouldn't make a person with a normal immune system ill.