ELi5: Why can different types of fevers exist? Continuous, Intermittent, remittent, etc. Some can even diagnose the specific infection you have.

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is it because of the viruses behaviour? they behave in patterns?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

This is a REALLY broad question, the causative agent for a fever can be viral, bacterial, fungal, protozoan, and the fever itself can be the body’s defense or it can be the result of fever-inducing molecules released by the pathogen. Some causes of recurring-remitting fevers are from diseases like malaria, which can be knocked down by the immune system without being wiped out, only to make a comeback later. You can get sick in multiple waves, each with fever, and it’s pretty brutal.

In other cases an infection follows a normal course, with a rising fever which peaks, then breaks and comes down. That’s usually the result of the body’s own defense, responding to signaling molecules which lead to our temperature set point being raised. Sometimes a fever rises catastrophically, and in this case it’s usually either the body’s defenses going haywire (cytokine storm) because of an overwhelming infection, or because the pathogen is inducing fever. In both cases it’s imperative to treat the underlying infection while also using medical interventions to lower fever.

To be clear this is not a complete look at fever, that would be pages and pages, but I think this gives you a sense of how different forces shape fevers.

Edit: I forgot to mention that in some rare cases medications (especially certain general anesthetics) can cause a form of runaway fever called malignant hyperthermia. Very rare, extremely dangerous, and ideally anesthesiologists are trained to recognize it early and act.

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