Headaches, gas, muscle soreness, vomiting and diarrhea are all things that you feel when you are sick with a stomach ‘bug” why does it actually hurt so much? And what is happening internally as it goes thru your body?
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One cool example of direct viral toxicity is that these infections (such as rotaviruses) reverse the binary function of intestinal lining cells, from absorbing water to secreting water, hence diarrhea. Most symptoms of infection are immune-mediated such as the examples given above—fever, histamine, inflammation (the first stage of healing btw, gets a bad reputation), but here you have an example of direct viral action on the function of a cell.
Having read through some other responses, it’s insightful to remember that fevers can also be examples of the variety of overkill responses in the immune system, adaptive for survival at the species/evolutionary level, but not always beneficial at the individual level. Suppressing fever in the early stages of viral respiratory infections for example can reduce (not prolong as someone suggested) the course of infection, because you’re cutting down the various sequelae of this inflammatory response. Fevers can absolutely be dangerous btw, see ‘serotonin syndrome’ for example, permanent brain damage is possible.
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