Why do we take medicine to suppress symptoms like coughing, fever, etc. when those are our bodies way of fighting infection?

Question

I’m sick rn and I’ve taken medication to reduce my fever. But isn’t a fever your body trying to cook out the infection? Ofc it could cook me as well, but if my fever goes away then won’t that just aid the germs?

In: Biology

Answer 1

It’s a classic case of “treatment is symptomatic and supportive.” In other words, those meds only treat the symptoms and make the patient feel comfortable while the immune system does its thing. There really isn’t a test for common colds or the flu, much less really effective treatments (Tamiflu is somewhat effective, as is Paxlovid).