“Often the best medicine is no medicine at all, or the best intervention is no intervention at all” Professor Robyn Ward AO, Chair, Medical Service Advisory Committee

Fevers: Don’t Let Fear Replace Facts

The very word fever in health conversations invokes fear and dread amongst many people. It would be no exaggeration to say there is a global trance surrounding the word, including not only the public, but also most conventional health professionals.   

For most of human history, however, fevers were regarded as beneficial to recovery from illness and were respected as a survival mechanism. The Father of Medicine, Hippocrates stated: “fever is the purifying flame which renews the body”. It was only since the advent of modern medicine in the nineteenth century and its ultimate marriage to the drug industry that fevers were regarded as dangerous. Is such fever-phobia warranted? Is fever really dangerous? The answer is an emphatic no! The truth is fevers are NOT a disease, but a symptom, an integral part of our defense systems and stopping them can not only lead to prolonged illness, but worsening complications, including death.

Fevers are a Natural Defense Response Found in Many Animals

Fevers are part of human and animal physiology and are manifested in response to infections and tissue injury. Humans, like other mammals (polar bears, goats, dogs and cats etc), and birds, are warm-blooded endotherms (endo means within; therm means temperature), meaning we/they have the ability to generate a fever (elevation of our temperature) when required, irrespective of outside temperature. Cold-blooded ectotherms (ecto means outside) such as lizards and reptiles, and insects and fish, cannot raise their temperatures internally but have to increase their body heat by changing their environment, such as when sick lizards and crocodiles move into the sun or lie on a warmer surface, or when unwell fish move to warmer water or bees heat up the air in their hive by buzzing their wings. 

Even plants have been shown to increase their leaf temperature when infected by fungus.

There are many physiological benefits of fevers, such as mobilization of white blood cells, increased release of interferon which has antiviral and anti-tumor activity, increased T-cell production, increased anti- bacterial and anti-viral substances, decreased viral replication, cessation of gastric acid secretion and peristalsis. Fever also walls off iron which bacteria need to live on. These are all fever’s gift to the immune system.

When You Stop Fevers, You Stop Our First Responders!

In essence, fever, which is a core temperature above 38 degrees C, is a protective internal climate change which activates our innate immune system, facilitating the movement of “first responders” of our helpful white blood cells. The fever creates a hostile environment for all germs, which, because they exist within a narrow temperature band, cannot function or proliferate in temperatures above 38 degrees C. 

Relentlessly suppressing fevers is, in effect, mismanaging fevers. Tragically, this is a routine practice in hospital and other medical settings and is to humanity’s detriment. Tellingly, humans are the only species which make a conscious effort to suppress their fevers when sick.

Fever: Rethinking Food, Fluid and Weight Loss 

The metabolic energy or effort to raise a fever is considerable and financed by energy shifts away from the desire for food, sex and exercise. This is why, when we are sick and febrile (feverish), we are disinclined to eat, engage in exercise, analytical thinking or amorous activity. Energy conservation is critical, and here the body’s wisdom is evident. It needs to use all available energy to mount the fever, allowing the increased heat to do its job and recover from whatever is ailing it. Children instinctively turn off their food, along with their desire to play or concentrate. They become listless. Some weight loss occurs, called infection-related anorexia. Adults and other animals are no different. 

Weight loss is a natural corollary of febrile illnesses.  Adults, children and animals all lose weight when febrile and sick because the anorexia (loss of appetite) combined with the increased metabolic rate means the body enters a catabolic stage, where it breaks down fats and muscle as fuel in the absence of food. Called autophagy, this means the body lives off itself to save itself. It is temporary and not dangerous. Vomiting is not uncommon when food is eaten during sickness, as is diarrhoea and stomach pains. Animals force fed will vomit. Encouraging or forcing food or activity is dangerous. Trying to keep weight on while sick will only prolong the illness and increase the risk of serious complications. 

While in a febrile state, it is also dangerous to injudiciously encourage fluid intake. This is a common, yet dangerous, practice. As body temperature rises, so does the hormone which retains fluid called anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). Because the body wisely retains fluid during a fever, if fluid intake exceeds the body’s need, the excess fluid can leak from the bloodstream into the lungs’ alveoli (tiny air-sacks in the lungs), causing alveoli swelling, and respiratory distress. 

Likewise, excess fluid can build up in the brain, causing brain swelling, or cytotoxic cerebral oedema, increasing the risk of severe headaches, seizures and other complications. 

Even in the absence of sickness, another consequence of excessive hydration is hyponatremia, or low blood sodium. It is the most common electrolyte disorder in clinical practice and may lead to life-threatening complications. Not to do with fevers, but this is the reason athletic authorities now warn against water gorging during marathons.

Fever Interference Adds to the Risk of Complications

These three commonly advised interventions- stopping the fever with anti-pyretic drugs, encouraging eating and unnecessary fluid intake- combine to form a perfect storm, and represent a failed attempt by modern medicine to outsmart nature. This perfect storm often prolongs the illness, causing fever “spiking” (continual rising and falling of fever) and can at times morph into a cytokine storm, even sepsis, happening in front of doctors’ and loved ones’ eyes, all oblivious to the real causes of this potential tragedy: human interference.

I realize that such a view is counter to all we have been led to believe. The dominant medical orthodoxy is to “tame the flame”- that is, to routinely and aggressively suppress fever. When someone questions such a widely accepted view, it is regarded as heresy, not dissent. However, there are many scientific studies, scientists and an ever-increasing number of enlightened doctors emphasizing the benefits of fever and the dangers of suppressing them with drugs. Argumentum ad populum – a saying that states a proposition must be true because most people believe it- certainly does not apply here.

What Does the Science Say?

Professor Steven Hoption Cann, Clinical Professor of Public Health at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada authored this article here, showing the benefit of fever in acute illnesses like covid, and that suppressing it and encouraging eating and/or drinking during a febrile illness can be very harmful. He states: “Public Health advice to treat fever with anti-pyretic drugs like paracetamol, acetominophen or ibuprofen is stuck in the past. A renaissance awaits us in the management of fever”. 

In the National Review of Immunology: Fever and the Thermal Regulation of Immunity; June 2015 it states: “The use of anti -pyretic drugs to diminish fevers correlates with a 5% increase in mortality in humans with influenza and it negatively affects patient outcomes in ICU. Fevers are associated with improved survival.”

Drs Randolph Neese and George Williams state “Drugs that block fever interfere with the body’s response to infection, with results that may be fatal”.

“If a patient develops a high fever, then clearly that is what is deemed necessary to fight the virus…it is counterproductive to suppress a fever at the height of battle against a disease. Even without intervention, fever will not just continue to rise unabated”.  Fevers Glass Ceiling; Clinical Infectious Diseases, March,1996.

Professor Robert Mendelsohn, the late pediatrician, stated in his book How to Raise a Healthy Child: “Fever is a mechanism the body employs to cure itself. It is unwise to interfere with it. The penchant of doctors to reduce the fever is one that I find appalling. What kills most people with so-called infectious diseases are the drugs used to treat them.” 

In the journal Pediatrics 28/2/2011 titled Don’t Fight the Fever, the authors state that a high fever actually has no potentially detrimental side effects but brings many benefits.

In a brilliant paper titled Fever: Metabolic Asset or Liability? the authors state “during a life-threatening illness, the lowering of fever may result in moving infected patients closer toward a critical point where they are unable to mount an adequate host defense“.  The authors also made similar observations in animals: “when sick lizards (seeking warmth to induce their fevers) were given anti-pyretic drugs or stopped from moving to warmer areas, the death rates increased compared to lizards allowed to induce their own fevers”. 

This from The Journal of Pediatrics, December 2023; Suppressing Childhood Fever with Anti-Pyretic Drugs: Inducing a False Sense of Security: “Instead of informing parents that anti-pyretics are harmless, a more enlightened approach would be to educate parents that fevers are generally harmless“. 

In The Journal of Acute Care March 2022 titled Peak Fever: Helpful or harmful? it states: “Aggressive fever suppressing approaches are clearly not beneficial…higher mortality was evident among patients who received acetaminophen for fever.” 

From New Scientist April 2020: “the immune system’s first responders to infection -neutrophils and macrophages- arrive faster to the area needed when the body temperature rises”.

Health expert Dr Joel Fuhrman, in his book Disease Proof Your Child states: “In acute illnesses, symptoms such as fever and cough are the body’s defenses to get rid of the virus.”

In Natural Hygiene practice going back to mid 19th century, doctors such as Drs Jennings, Trall and others recorded no deaths from their febrile patients with conditions like cholera, typhoid, typhus and smallpox provided their fevers were not interfered with, they had fresh air, bed rest and took no food at all until the fever subsided and were allowed appropriate water (not forced). A whole article could be written about their phenomenal success compared to the usual death rate of at least 30% with patients who were drugged and interfered with by conventional doctors. 

Dr Herbert Shelton succinctly summed up the problems of meddling with nature: “It is dangerous to suppress activity where nature has increased it and to excite activity where nature has decreased it.” 

A Dangerous Disconnect

Every major medical institution extols the benefits of fever……in theory. In fact, one can not find one medical article which proves fevers harmful. 

This medical disconnect between the theoretical acceptance of fevers as an integral part of the immune system and their routine suppression in medical advice and practice is not only one of the wonders of the world, but a disconnect which is causing incalculable patient harm. As Dr Hoption Cann stated, we need a renaissance in fever management.

Some Common Questions Concerning Fevers

But shouldn’t we eat when sick and feverish to keep our strength up?

We do not need food when acutely sick, we need rest! And this also means rest of the digestive system.

When acutely sick (with or without fever) all animals naturally and instinctively shun food, including humans. It is common survival behavior. When sick and febrile, the release of the hormone cortico-trophin- releasing factor (CRF) makes food, sex and exercise unappealing. Even the desire for water declines when feverish, as stated before due to the parallel rise in ADH, which retains body fluid. Keep in mind that the demand and need for fluid returns once defervescence occurs (breaking of the fever) and ADH has subsided. Regarding food, it has been known for many decades that peristalsis (the rythmical contraction of the gut to move food and waste through the bowels) slows, even stops, during febrile illness. In  the American Journal of Physiology, 28/2/1950 it states: “As body temperature increases, gastric acid secretion decreases”. When our gastric acid decreases, our salivary production decreases and our digestive capacities decrease. Hence, the anorexia, or lack of appetite.  

But Won’t the Fever Keep Rising and Cause Convulsions if Not Stopped?

This is a common misconception. As pyrogens (heat-producing chemicals from the brain) rise, causing the rise in temperature, so do anti-pyretic substances called cryogens (cold-producing chemicals). These cryogens act as a buffer, check or safeguard against the fever rising too high. Fever is an elegant homeostatic control system which, if not interfered with, will rise to do its intended job and fall when that job has been completed. 

“Regarding convulsions, as Professor Robert Mendelsohn op cit states  “convulsions are frightening but rarely dangerous and probably can’t be avoided because they are not related to the height of the fever but to the rate of ascent”. Better stated, convulsions result  not from how high the temperature rises, but how quickly it rises. Brain damage is not caused by convulsions, unless the convulsions are meddled with. The fact is that convulsions are not generally dangerous, and parents of children who convulse are reassured they are benign and encouraged NOT to interfere. This is now widespread, and correct, medical advice. 

What about Infants:

Regarding fevers in children under 2, Professor Hoption Cann reassures worried parents : “There is widespread belief that babies under 2 cannot thermoregulate and that fevers will keep rising until stopped. This is incorrect. The body controls the fever even when very young, and the temperature will not keep rising”. Babies do not shiver because of skeletal muscle immaturity. They can double their own heat by their brown adipose tissue (BAT) located in their neck and shoulder blades. Brown fat is brown because it contains more mitochondria, the energy producing powerhouses of the cells. Clinical Manual of Fever in Children: Pathogenesis of Fever Jan/2019. 

Acute Sickness as a Valuable Lesson

Whenever our children got sick, we used such experiences to teach them that their bodies were strong, resilient and self-healing when managed intelligently. We heavily emphasized that key to their recovery was desistance, not assistance. What was imperative was complete rest. We taught them that their bodies were capable of recovery provided their bodily cues were listened to and followed. In essence, we empowered them by trusting their body’s innate wisdom. Following recovery, we also shared with them what behaviors may have led them to becoming sick. Such increased awareness is central to healthy living throughout life.

Hidden Benefits of Acute Illness

We also found that our kids jumped significantly in developmental milestones after any illness. This has been confirmed for years now by countless parents. The converse is also true. It has been observed when children’s acute symptoms are continually suppressed, and become prolonged and more complicated, then a regression of development sometimes occurs. Perhaps more studies would throw light on this observation in view of the plethora of immune-related diseases in children, and the exponential rise in neurological issues like autism and ADHD.

In addition, children’s sicknesses, especially if properly and naturally managed, often foster a closer bond between child and parents. Dr Mary Kelly Sutton (mks@drsutton.org) agrees: “childhood diseases promote a strong bond between child and parent”.

Fevers and Vaccinations

The frequent medical advice prior to childhood vaccinations to administer prophylactic fever-lowering drugs before or after vaccination shows a blatant lack of understanding of health physiology and constitutes a clear and present threat to the child. The only way the child’s body can defend itself against the vaccine’s provocation is to mount a fever. The immune system is provoked by the vaccine and then its natural defensive response such as fever is suppressed. It’s like recommending anti-nausea medication to someone who is about to eat rancid food. Both the fever and vomiting in such cases are decidedly protective. How many babies and children have been seriously injured (or worse) by this ignorant practice can only be guessed at.

I was prompted to write this article by my observation, and study, over many years that suppressing fevers in adults and children was often followed by prolonged illness, complications, serious illness and tragically, occasional death. Suppressing fever, made worse by inappropriate feeding and drinking, form a dangerous combination. 

The final words should go to two enlightened doctors. Dr Susan Welham: “am I alone in thinking that it is obvious that fever is a natural defense mechanism that has evolved with life. I am surprised that research is necessary to prove something so obvious“. The British Medical Journal 2010.

And to Dr Tom Cowan, in his book Vaccines, Autoimmunity and the Changing Nature of Childhood Illness: “understanding the role of acute disease and fever would do more to improve children’s health than perhaps any other medical breakthrough. Ignoring the role of fever and acute illness in the development of the immune system- as our medical establishment currently does- will also be fundamentally misguided in treatment protocols- as our current medical establishment currently is”.

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