me: immune system why do i have a fever
immune system: well the bacteria can’t survive outside 37 degrees for long so i thought i’d raise the temperature to kill them off!
me:
immune system:
me:
immune system:
me: we also can’t survive outside 37 degrees for long
immune system:
Oh man this is gold. :D pass it on if you enjoyed it.
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ACTUALLY-
Not to get all nerdo even the though the joke was meant to make you laugh, it’s factually incorrect.
Our body creates a low-grade fever in response to a pathogen so that our red blood cells fully saturate and bind more tightly to the iron in our blood. The invading bacteria need our iron to perform metabolic activities (including reproducing) so the goal of the fever is to reduce the number of free iron molecules so that there is less available for the bacteria utilize. The bacteria will eventually be destroyed and absorbed by our immune system that way.
However it is important to note that this is why healthcare professionals say a low-grade fever is fine but a fever that last more than a few days and spikes in temperature is not. This specific mechanism is meant only to increase our red blood cells’ affinity for iron. A high grade fever indicates that the pathogen and/or toxin has reached the hypothalamic temperature control center in the brain and the body needs medical intervention.
tangentially related but fun fact, that last paragraph is literally the entire climax of the Osmosis Jones movie
