The Argument for Letting a Fever Run Its Course
It may lead to better outcomes, some experts say
In the 1970s, a University of Michigan physiologist named Matthew Kluger conducted a series of experiments in which he and colleagues infected iguanas with illness-causing bacteria. Their goal was to study how these infections responded to fever.
In one experiment, the sick iguanas were given access to heat lamps, which helped the cold-blooded lizards raise their body temperatures in ways that mimicked a fever. All but one of them took advantage of the heat lamps, and the outlier was the lone animal to die of its illness. In another experiment, Kluger gave sick iguanas fever-reducing drugs. Five of these iguanas still managed to develop a fever, and those five lived. Meanwhile, the seven that did not develop a fever died.
Fevers are no fun — for lizards or for human beings. In people, fevers are associated with sweating, chills, and body aches, as well as weakness, nausea, breathing problems and, in some cases, strange dreams or hallucinations.
Why put up with all that? Many doctors say you shouldn’t. Take a fever-reducer like aspirin or acetaminophen and feel better. “Fever is your body’s way of telling you that something’s wrong, and you need to do something about it,” says Dr. Lee Riley, a professor of…
