A U.S. study questions whether a fever should be treated — or fed or starved — because it can hasten the identification and treatment of infections.
Researchers said they learned that fevers actually can help a body’s immune system identify and combat an infection, said Sharon Evans, who conducted the research at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y.
The findings don’t mean that people should stop applying cold compresses to treat the fever, Evans said in a news release. She said people should let letting fevers run too long because they can become dangerous, even fatal to organs in the body.
Evans said she and her colleagues found that fevers act as gatekeepers in triggering the body’s immune system to fight an infection. The sooner white blood cells can attack the infectious, the sooner the infection can be brought under control. Evans said this led the team to conclude that fever helps by accelerating the identification process.
She said the team is investigating how to use a fever as a treatment for infections, auto-immune diseases and cancer.
