Mild fever helps clear infections, Alberta study suggests

A new University of Alberta (UAlberta) study suggests waiting for a fever to run its course before taking medication could be beneficial.

When the university’s research team introduced a bacterial infection to fish and left it untreated, they found their bodies were able to fight infection rapidly, control inflammation, and repair damaged tissue.

Results showed that having a fever helped the fish clear their bodies from the infection in around seven days, which is half the time it took for other animals who were given medication to stop the fever.

“We let nature do what nature does, and in this case, it was very much a positive thing,” said immunologist Daniel Barreda, lead author of the study and a joint professor in the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences and the Faculty of Science.

Barreda explains that the body naturally fights infections by mild fever, and taking medication can actually hinder the process.

“They take away the discomfort felt with fever, but you’re also likely giving away some of the benefits of this natural response,” Barreda said.

‘Why are we taking a pill that quickly?’

Barreda says looking at the evolution of the immune system made researchers wonder “why are we taking a pill that quickly?”

“And we noticed that fever has been conserved for over 550 million years, and some animals will go through great lengths to actually induce fever, so they will risk getting eaten, they will decrease the reproductive success.,” Barreda said.

“Our goal is to determine how to best take advantage of our medical advances while continuing to harness the benefits from natural mechanisms of immunity,” he added.

Barreda adds he chose fish for his research because they are naturally able to go through a number of different temperatures.

“So, if we were able to do the same types of studies on mice or humans, it would actually be much more complicated. So, for example, imagine yourself being in a hot tub for two or four hours or even longer –you can imagine the psychological stress,” he said.” Whereas the fish are very happy to move to different temperatures.”

While a mild fever can be good for helping the body’s healing process, severe fevers require a physician’s consultation, Barreda says.

“I think we have to understand that medicine is good, and there’s a lot of advances that we’ve done over the years. But there has to be a balance between taking advantage of medical advances and those natural processes that have been honed over years of evolution,” he said.

— With files from Lisa Grant