If the body raises its temperature to kill bacteria, why is it bad to take a hot shower when you have a fever?
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The advice on dealing with fevers changes constantly.
Bacteria and virus that attack humans have evolved to reproduce fastest as a normal human body temperature. A fever takes the body outside the normal range to reduce a virus/baterias rate of growth making it easier to kill off the infection.
A fever generally makes someone uncomfortable. A prolonged or too high a fever can be harmful to a person as it can cause the body to shut down. Because of this sometimes the medical advice is to bring down the body temperature to reduce the fever to make the person more comfortable and prevent the fever causing harm to the body. (taking paracetomol, cold shower, ice bath, etc…).
Other medical advice might say to aid your body making the fever, wrap up well and help raise your body temp. This may be given on the short term only for milder fevers.
In general the advice is to stay comfortable.
The advice on hot showers has absolutely nothing to do with the fever itself. A fever is normally accompanied by weakness, partularly as your body is burning extra energy. The fear with a hot shower is that you faint, which can lead to injury from falling, drowning in a shallow pool of water, or other issue.
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