Fever or harm? Is it necessary to reduce fever?

Fever is the body's response to a certain pathogen. Although it causes lots of discomfort and makes the body tired, fever actually does more than harm.

1. Why must reduce fever?

Fever has been one of the central topics of medicine for centuries. So far, humans have been able to detect and control fevers in most cases. However, there is still much debate as to why fever must be reduced and whether or not this is necessarily the case.

Fever is considered a part of the body's natural immune response, which is to eliminate pathogens, most commonly parasites and viruses. For centuries, scientists have described fever as a disease rather than a sign of another disease.

Fever has been one of the central topics of medicine for centuries.

Fever is defined as the condition that occurs when the body temperature rises above the normal temperature limit. Although it took hundreds of years for the scientists to reach a consensus regarding the character and definition of a fever, there was consensus on when, why to reduce the fever, and whether or not to regulate the fever . Treatment of fever in patients is still a matter of great controversy.

2. Effect of fever on the body

Fever has the effect of protecting the body from bad agents and has certain effects on human health.

The effect of fever

In the event of a fever, the body's immune system boosts its activity, stimulates its immune response and destroys disease-causing antigens. Therefore, when children vaccinate, if they have a fever, they must use fever-reducing medicine for children, which will lead to a decrease in the body's immune response.

Fever stimulates the metabolism processes in cells and facilitates the accumulation of stored energy. Currently, people have applied artificial fever to patients for the purpose of treatment in some cases such as keloid scars, scarring after burns. The mechanism of this process is due to fever's ability to inhibit scarring and soften scars. In addition, the fever response reduces spinal cord trauma, early treatment in syphilis with nerve damage .

Fever helps protect the body from bad substances.

The impact of fever

Besides the benefits, fever also has certain effects on the body. High fever increases the risk of anaphylactic reaction, shocking, increased destruction, leading to reduced zinc and iron in the blood.

In addition, fever also causes dehydration, electrolyte disorders, causing convulsions, which is very dangerous for children and infants. People with high fever may experience other nerve damage, such as delirium, confusion, exhaustion, fatigue, heart failure, loss of appetite, respiratory failure, etc.

3. Views on managing the fever

In general, when encountering a fever patient, there are two schools of management: one is to treat fever and the other is to let it happen.

Viewpoint for antipyretic treatment

Advocates of antipyretic treatment offer two hypotheses to answer the question 'Why must fever be reduced?' However, both have not been experimentally verified:

• Fever is a condition that is harmful to the body.
• Controlling the fever will reduce its harmful effects.

One thing that many researchers must consider before treating a fever is that the total cost of treatment exceeds the benefit to the patient. However, once again, this conclusion needs to be considered and calculated more accurately.

Clinically, only one situation where a patient is definitely in need of active antipyretic treatment is in acute brain injury. In addition, even when treating febrile convulsions in children, the use of antipyretics is not recommended because prophylactic treatment with antipyretics does not reduce recurrent seizures or seizures.

Reducing fever through ICU room cooling has been documented in a randomized controlled trial and has been shown to benefit patients with septic shock resulting in a decrease in drug efficacy. vasomotor and death. Meanwhile, most other studies related to the role of antipyretics have produced negative results. In theory, only patients who have a fever due to a serious illness or who suffer from severe psychological stress can gain benefits from reducing fever, but so far there is not much evidence to date. to come to a clear conclusion about why antipyretics should be taken .

The idea of ​​letting the fever go naturally

Supporters of this view argue that fever is a mechanism to protect the body by enhancing the function of immune cells and promoting the elimination of harmful agents. Over the decades, several studies have supported this hypothesis.

A randomized controlled trial investigating the effect of antipyretics on patients with fever symptoms in critical situations was published in 2005 showing evidence supporting this view. Specifically, when comparing the group of patients treated with aggressive fever with medicines early with the group that only started to reduce fever when the body temperature is so severe, the cases for the fever to occur naturally. recorded a much smaller number of deaths.

Another randomized controlled trial conducted in patients in critical situations with a fever of ≥ 38.5 ° C (without neurological complications or severe hypoxia) was inconclusive. What is the role and the reason why the fever is needed . Accordingly, the test results show that between the two groups with and without antipyretic treatment, there was no significant difference in the likelihood of recurrent fever, the degree of infection, the need for antibiotic treatment, hospitalization rate and length of hospital stay.

Antipyretics should be used if the fever is ≥ 38.5 ° C.

4. Does fever have to reduce fever?

Is fever a good or bad manifestation and why should it be reduced ? So far, scientists have not been able to determine exactly. However, if viewed from the standpoint of evolution theory, the fever reaction may be a sign of adaptation. This is because the fever reaction is estimated to have occurred more than 4 million years ago (in different animals). Although medicine has been around for a long time, the exact mechanism of how a fever works, its potential protective effects on the body and why fever is still a problem. controversial and there is not enough empirical research material.

Many people are inclined to the hypothesis that treating fever may affect immune function and make patients more susceptible to infections. However, many doctors still consider antipyretic treatment necessary in most cases.

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