Posted on 03/15/2023 10:01:22 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
It may be better to let a mild fever run its course instead of automatically reaching for medication, new research suggests.
Researchers found that untreated moderate fever helped fish clear their bodies of infection rapidly, controlled inflammation and repaired damaged tissue.
"We let nature do what nature does, and in this case it was very much a positive thing," says immunologist Daniel Barreda.
Moderate fever is self-resolving, meaning that the body can both induce it and shut it down naturally without medication, Barreda explains.
That suggests we should resist reaching for over-the-counter fever medications, also known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs for short, at the first signs of a mild temperature, he says.
The study helps shed light on the mechanisms that contribute to the benefits of moderate fever, which "has been evolutionarily conserved across the animal kingdom for 550 million years," Barreda notes. "Every animal examined has this biological response to infection."
Some species, such as fish, reptiles and insects, will even risk predation and decrease their reproductive success to move to temperatures in their environments that bring on natural fever.
For the study, fish were given a bacterial infection and their behavior was then tracked and evaluated using machine learning. Outward symptoms were similar to those seen in humans with fever, including immobility, fatigue and malaise. These were then matched to important immune mechanisms inside the animals.
The research showed that natural fever offers "an integrative response that not only activates defenses against infection, but also helps control it," Barreda says.
The researchers found that fever helped to clear the fish of infection in about seven days—half the time it took for those animals not allowed to exert fever.
Fever also helped to shut down inflammation and repair tissues that had been injured.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Be wary about lowering fever temperatures.
Exactly. Fever is the body’s way of killing the invaders.
While I tend to agree with the theory, using fish as the sample population is odd. Cold-blooded, aquatic creatures with scales, fins and gills have little in common with humans.
The only cure is more cowbell
So the old saying is true
Feed a fever starve a cold
I thought this was common knowledge to let a fever run its course and only taking action if it starts getting too high (101+)
Which is why - if your doctor ever suggests your chuild with an ear infection or cold and say a 102 fever take ibuprofen to lower it - find another doctor.
In other news, it has been reported that water, which covers a substantial area of the planet, is wet. Details at 10.
Temperature is part of the immune response.
As long as the temp stays below 101.5, drink lots of water and you’ll be fine ( this includes children)
Once it gets to 101.5, continue with the water but check your temp about every two to three hours.
If it exceeds 101.5, up to 101.9, if you develop a headache, or just feel so crummy that you don’t care if the house falls down around you, you could take some Tylenol or advil or aleve to bring down the temp and help with the crummy feeling.
With children, if they are running and playing and eating and drinking and they have a low grade fever (100.6-101.5) make sure they stay hydrated and give them finger foods and they should be ok. But… if they get clingy or act sluggish and don’t want to eat or drink and they have a fever, take them to a doctor or urgent care clinic.
For baby’s. Keep them hydrated and monitor the number and weight of wet diapers. Babies will dehydrate quickly and decompensate in a hurry. If they stop drinking/nursing for more than a day, get them to an urgent care clinic or ER.
Have a good day.
Same is true if you have a productive cough.
When my son’s fever spiked as a baby, I took him to the emergency room. There, I took off his jacket and pajamas and began wiping him down with a damp, cool (not cold) cloth. Within a minute, the cloth was almost dry and warm. More water, more wiping. I was pulling the heat from him slowly and he stopped crying.
The triage nurse watched me carefully as he processed patients. When it was our turn, my son’s fever was down by a full degree. “Good job, Mom,” he mentioned in passing. “You’d be surprised how many parents leave their kids all bundled up and they are in rough shape when we get to them.”
Thankfully, an inner ear infection. Some antibiotics and he was good to go.
Letting a fever run its course is one thing; allowing it to stay elevated is dangerous. Bring it down gently to avoid shocking the system and always get a high fever checked. Better safe than sorry.
Not designed for human study. AG department
True, and it is not only against infection. This is from the bees:
Bees Kill A Giant Hornet With Heat
The giant hornet has one terrible weakness - it cannot stand heat. After millions of years facing their enemy, the bees use this to their advantage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNroEwFxh6I
You’re right, it depends on how long the fever lasts.
Most of the time it is a virus and viruses usually are self limiting r/t the bodies immune response.
If a fever lasts more than two or three days, go to your doctor or urgent care center.
And please, don’t bundle up your babies when they have a fever. That only makes the temperature higher.
That goes for children and adults too.
In my humble, non medical opinion, what you did was absolutely correct for an infant or under 6 year old.
But I think for an adult, a mild fever is helpful
Why even bother writing books. Only the smart people read them.
Modern people a F-ing stupid. We are so advanced as a civilization right now, hell the last 20 years have only set us back to the 1840s or so.
I came down with what could only have been Wuhan Flu, in February of ‘20 and suffered most of the usual symptoms, I hadn’t caught the flu in almost 20 years iirc. It started out, one day I realized, I must be running a fever. After digging around a while I found a few old school thermometers. I shook it down, stuck ‘er under my tongue and waited a couple minutes. 104.5 Well that can’t be right ! Figured it must be defective.
I was hesitant to go to the hospital. One, that’s where people went to die at that point in time. I didn’t want nothin’ to do with no hospital. What can they do to bring fever down that I can’t do?
I did wonder if I was going to die, I knew it was a high temperature - and worse, it didn’t act the way a regular course of flu seemed to in the past. I figured 2 to 3 days, it would break over night and I would feel better. It was persistent.
At that time there was considerable question about whether Aspirin or Tylenol or fever reducers were best. The information coming out of China was to avoid Tylenol or Ibuprofen if I recall, so I used a regimine of Aspirin. There were also numerous reports that former tobacco users were showing a very high mortality rate if they caught it. So I decided to keep smoking! LOL
SCOTTY BEAM ME UP IT AIN’T FUNNY ANY MORE
Reading is for fags.
That’s the only time you hear about books any more. When the right wing wants to burn them or when the freaks, fags and queers want to innocently read them to your 7 year old.
Agreed.
For me, fever usually results in sweating. I’m particularly olfactory sensitive and I notice that my scent changes when I have a fever. I presume it’s my body shedding toxins.
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