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GoodGoodGoody t1_jcrp98z wrote

Reply to comment by Broad-Turnover6945 in How does the body excrete bacteria and infections? by leinard97

Question: Flu has higher body temperatures (to fight infection?) but colds don’t?

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Liberty-Justice-4all t1_jcruqi0 wrote

Colds definitely do... you feel cold because your body "wants" to be warmer than usual (and it turns up/down various systems to encourage you increase that temperature).

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Indemnity4 t1_jd5nrr0 wrote

Body temp is a secondary effect of your immune system doing it's job.

Increased body temperature is related to what is called a cytokine storm, most common in flu virus compared to the 200+ common cold viruses.

Some flu viruses cause your body to sound the emergency alarm too loud and the body overreacts. The fever is unwanted inflammation that can lead to organ failure.

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GoodGoodGoody t1_jd5oq9e wrote

Perhaps I falsely believed fever is the body ramping up it’s own natural defences and was beneficial within limits.

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Indemnity4 t1_jd5unyv wrote

First part of your theory is true. The natural defenses do generate heat via inflammation. Which usually does nothing good or bad, unless it sometimes gets really bad.

Beneficial part, mostly no. You aren't cooking virus or bacteria, and heat doesn't make the defenses work faster.

However, the really interesting fact of the day is body temperature does kill fungal infections. >36.6°C will kill fungal infections. Majority of fungal infections are on the outside of your body where it's relatively cool, but if they get into your blood, travel up inside your urinary tract or reach some organs, they are incredibly difficult to treat.

Average human body temperature is dropping over time. Humans were constantly sick with some persistant virus or bacteria, an average body temperature was about 37°C (above the fungal limit). Then modern medicine started to fix those persistant infections, and average human body temps dropped to about 36°C (below the fungal limit). As a result, in modern times we find a lot more internal fungal infections that are difficult to treat.

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