Probing Evolution

Fever Can Hurt or Help, Depending on What Started It

#3. Stopping fever during infection might increase disease transmission in the population.

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“Humanity has but three great enemies: fever, famine, and war; of these by far the greatest, by far the most terrible, is fever,” William Osler, known as the Father of Modern Medicine and one of the “greatest diagnosticians ever to wield a stethoscope,” said at the 1896 American Medical Association meeting in Atlanta.

Fever? Perhaps the better word would be infectious diseases. As per the 1990 work of the English Hippocrates, Thomas Sydenham: Fever is the “nature’s engine which she brings into the field to remove her enemy.” And the enemy is infections. Still, what is the fascination with fever?

Contents:
1. Sources of Fever
2. When Fever Saves: Infectious Diseases
3. Consequences of Stopping Fever During Infection
4. When Fever Kills: Non-infectious Diseases
5. When Fever Kills: Hyperthermia
6. Article Highlights

1. Sources of Fever

The cut-off body temperature for fever is ≥38.3°C (101.0°F). It can go up to 41°C. Microbes cause the majority of fever cases. They trigger the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines that act on the brain’s…