ELi5 Why are fevers so dangerous? If they’re an immune system mechanism, shouldn’t there also be a biological “emergency stop/ brain overheating” button?
In: Biology
>ELi5 Why are fevers so dangerous?
They are not.
Fevers are not dangerous. They cannot harm you.
>shouldn’t there also be a biological “emergency stop/ brain overheating” button?
There is. Part of your brain (the hypothalamus) regulates your body temperature. Under ordinary circumstances, it is very effective.
A very high body temperature can be harmful, but this is not from a fever (which is your body’s response to an infection), but from factors that overwhelm your body’s ability to control its own temperature, such as very high ambient temperature and humidity, medications that prevent sweating or increase the body’s production of heat beyond its ability to shed heat.
But a fever itself does not cause harm.
Source: I am an emergency physician.
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