Fighting the Flu May Hurt Those Around You 351
sciencehabit writes "When you've got the flu, it can't hurt to take an aspirin or an ibuprofen to control the fever and make you feel better, right? Wrong, some scientists say. Lowering your body temperature may make the virus replicate faster and increase the risk that you transmit it to others. A new study claims that there are at least 700 extra influenza deaths in the United States every year because people suppress their fever."
So... (Score:5, Informative)
You're fucked, but I feel better?
Dude, you are so fucked!
Hrrrrr... (Score:3, Informative)
Fever is one of your body's ways to fight infection. When you supress it, you "enable the virus."
But I will take antipyretics when I damn well feel like it. Tough shit if someone else gets sick.
DARWIN, BABY!
Re:Aches & Pains (Score:5, Informative)
There is. They're called opioids. But taking opioids makes you a dangerous drug addict, so you're not allowed to have them.
Re:Probably going out/to work (Score:5, Informative)
This may surprise a lot of people in Germany, but in the US the general rule is, you don't have any vacation days and can't afford to take time off of work to see a doctor.
And if you do take time off of work to get well and figure out how to pay a doctor and any treatment they might suggest, it's entirely possible that, upon attempting to return to work, you find yourself jobless.
Therefore, again generally, we tend to take as many over-the-counter drugs [amazon.com] as we can to begin feeling half-way human so we can keep working every day even if it kills us and those around us (which, according to TFA, it does).
Re:What is fever ? (Score:5, Informative)
Is the fever a side result of the effect of the virus on the organism ? Or is it a way for the organism to fight the virus and eliminate it ? Because we get fevers in most cases of severe infections and I doubt most germs are sensitive to a 3C increase in body temperature... I can still brew beer from anything like 10C to 40C...
Most viruses and bacteria are more temperature sensitive than yeast is. Also, higher temperatures improve the function of white blood cells and reduces the effects of endotoxins.
Re:Fevers don't kill (Score:4, Informative)
Fevers don't kill people.
That is nonsense.
Your fever can go up to roughly 44 celsius, around that temperature you die.
The fever wasn't what caused the problems
Yes, the fever can be the cause of the problem, I sugget to read at least the basics about medicine before writing such nonsense. Simple info: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What... [answers.com]
More complex: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F... [wikipedia.org]
(And I really wonder: it is something you learn in school in latest 4th grade, how can an adult not know the basis about fever?)
Re:Probably going out/to work (Score:2, Informative)
Oh, bull. If you really believed that, you'd move to Germany.
not useless at all... (Score:4, Informative)
so since you have spread the infection for one day, before you were showing symptoms, you might as well go ahead and spread it for several more days afterwards?
horsehockey. one day worth of germs 3 days worth of germs.
stay at home when you are sick.
Re:human germs don't like higher body temp (Score:2, Informative)
it's the making-love-after-eating-an-onion-and-drinking-vodka that gets me....where is this possible? People have standards everywhere and that one's gonna be hard to get over.