Fever is Good – Most of the Time

For parents, doctors and pharmacy companies, fever has been thought to be “the enemy”. We should be scared of fever and make it go away as fast as possible. This may be a very dangerous idea for the following reasons.

Fever Facts

• All animals, even single cell organisms, have fever. Therefore it is felt to be important in protecting us in some way.
• Studies show that increasing the body temperature decreases the ability of bacteria to multiply and spread. That gives antibiotics a chance to work faster.
• Newer studies also show that the increase in body temperature activates a special kind of white blood cells- aptly named “killer T cells”. The activation of these killers means that your body can fight virus infections better and may be the only “treatment” needed for getting rid of the most common form of infection.

Therefore- not letting your body have a fever when you have an infection may actually make the virus last longer and take the antibiotics longer to work for bacteria infections.