I seem to recall reading on this board that a fever is a bi-product of the body’s fight against infection, not part of the fight itself. Is this true and can someone point me to a reliable cite?
Question 2: If a patient’s temperature normally runs 97.1 and goes up to 98.6 do doctors consider this to be a fever? It is, after all, higher than the patient normally sees.
Pretty much any medical website can tell you about how a fever is one of the mechanisms your body uses to defend you from infection.
In my limited medical experience with animals, an increase of about 1 degree is not overt concern of fever. Normal body temperatures hover in a range around 98.6. Your body temperature can flux with exercise, stress, time of day, or any other myriad of ways.
Most medical people I know gauge the seriousness of the fever by how crappy the person looks otherwise. Some folks will be chipper at 103, while others will be comatose at 100. Generally, though, fevers over 105 are considered serious.
My WAG: If you went into the doctor with a temperature of 98.6, even if that was warm for you, I think the doctor would likely take measures to treat your other symptoms instead of directly treating the fever itself. Either way, the fever will likely resolve temporarily.
Pullet, do you know if body temperature is effected by the thyroid and how active it is? I heard that an overactive thyroid can also raise body temp, and can actually cause damage to if not treated.
Some cowbell will clear it right up.
My understanding of hyperthyroidism is that the overactive thyroid gland generically raises the body’s metabolic rate. According to Wikipedia , this can lead to heat intolerance. I’m not sure if this means that a hyperthyroid patient actually has an elevated body temperature, or if they are unable to physically compensate for higher environmental temperatures.
At any rate, my understanding was that the danger of hyperthyroidism came from its other symptoms, like weightloss, heart problems, and frequent urination. In cats, at least, the frequent urination problem is more distressing than the exercise intolerance.
I think I may have misunderstood the OP slightly. Khadaji, what exactly do you mean by “byproduct of the body’s fight against infection”? Like the mass effect of the activities of your immune cells are what is generating the fever?
My understanding was that the body recognizes the infection on a grander scale, and that the thyroid resets the body’s temperature in response, under direction from the brain. According to this site, and some others I looked at, researchers have named the signaling chemicals involved “pyrogens.” But, they say that these chemical signals can be produced by your white blood cells, the invading bacteria, viruses, toxins, or fungus. So, it looks like we know that infection leads to an increase in chemical signals that induce the thyroid to increase body temperature, but we don’t know exactly how all that works yet.
Regardless, there is still a fundimental shift in body temperature controlled by the thyroid. Unlike heat caused by working muscle cells, fever isn’t a byproduct of active white blood cells. Does that answer your question?
As I recall the thread, someone asked: If a fever is the body’s way of fighting infection, why do doctor’s treat it with aspirin or other fever-reducing medicines?
The person went on to say that his/her mother would always let the fever run its course and would even bundle him/her up to help them stay warmer.
Again, as I recall it, answers were that the fever was only a result of the body fighting the infection, not a weapon in and of itself and was not needed for the body to win its fight. Some mentioned specific temps at which viruses or bacteria die and said that the body can never produce temps that high without harming the brain.
OK, that is how it went in my memory. But perhaps I am misremembering.
This came up recently in my own treatment. My doc prescribed an antibiotic for an infection and Tylenal to reduce the fever. One of my friends argued that I should take the antibiotic, but let the fever do its thing. He even suggested that I get in the hot tub to help the process along.
Of course, I took my antibiotic *and *my tylenal. Although I like and respect my friend, I would never let him treat me. 
But I did recall the old thread and thought I would shoot some cites off to my friend.
In the end I will still do what my doc says, but it is an interesting question: If the fever is one of nature’s weapons, why do we take that weapon away from the body? And why not get in the 104 degree hottub?
Here is another example of the teeming millions thinking that a little of something is good for you so a lot must be even better…
Fever can result of a number of immune system processes including macrophage breakdown, complement release etc. In a small way this may be helpful as heat helps speed reactions allowing the body to effeciently utilise energy for immune function. But at very high temperatures bodily functions breakdown so very high fevers are dangerous resulting in fitting, cardiac arrhythmias etc. The minor increase in metabolism produced by the fever may be helpful but is generally unnecessary, the immune system will still function properly if slightly less frenetically without it. Plus, it makes you feel crap. So definitely don’t get in a hot bath and do take your acetoaminophen (paracetomol) unless you are a complete purist and determined to suffer for the sake of some minor increase in immune system function.
I doubt that anyone would really be known to have a lower body temperature than the regulation 37C unless you were a woman charting ovulation, in which case your temperature chart will hopefully be biphasic anyway. If you have been regularly charting your temperature and are convinced that it is usually below the norm, a doctor would usually preserve a healthy scepticism on the basis of equipment limitations, systematic error etc. Febrile is defined as 38C. Fullstop.
It’s the only prescription.
I see lots of healthy folks with body temps below 37 (i’m a nurse)