Articles

The Fever

"Is a fever good?"

When it comes to the influenza virus, the higher your fever the better. If you have a high fever and are presenting with flu-like symptoms you should contact your health care provider as soon as possible.

But a fever is your body's natural way of telling you that it is trying to fight off an infection. Let's apply this theory to a science experiment. If you were to be growing a germs in a culture, you know that if you heat up the petri dish too much you will successfully kill the bacteria that is trying to grow and mutate. The same applies for your bodies temperature, the higher your body temperature the easier it will be for you body  to rid itself of the growing bacteria.

Of course there are plenty of over the counter medications made with the purpose of reducing fevers, but from a medical standpoint the only purpose of a fever reducer is to make the patient more comfortable. 

But you will be happy to hear that these fever reducers will not reduce the effect of your body's natural defense.  Even though a fever is the preferable route to ensure that your body is doing its best to fight infection, a lower temperature in not not helping get rid of the bacteria. 

Think of it this way, a fever is a necessity to the immune system disposal department. If your body does not produce a fever when you come down with an illness, it is not doing its job and therefore you can end up more sick.

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