is fever a type of germ?

Question

i need to figure out if a fever is a type of germ, a virus or something else. plz respond. thank you...

Answer 1

Fever is not an illness. Far from being an enemy, it is an important part of the body's defense against infection. Many infants and children develop high fevers with minor viral illnesses. While a fever signals to us that a battle might be going on in the body, the fever is fighting for the person, not against.

Most bacteria and viruses that cause infections in people thrive best at 98.6°F. Raising the temperature a few degrees can give your body the winning edge. In addition, a fever activates the body's immune system to make more white blood cells, antibodies, and other infection-fighting agents.

Many parents fear that fevers will cause brain damage. Brain damage from a fever generally will not occur unless the fever is over 107.6°F (42°C). Many parents also fear that untreated fevers will keep going higher and higher. Untreated fevers caused by infection will seldom go over 105°F unless the child is overdressed or trapped in a hot place.

Some parents fear that fevers will cause seizures. For the great majority of children, this is not the case. However, febrile seizures do occur in some children. Once a child is already known to have a high fever, a febrile seizure is unlikely with the current illness. In any event, simple febrile seizures are over in moments with no lasting consequences.

Although infections are the most common causes of elevated body temperature, fevers have a long list of other causes, including toxins, cancers, and autoimmune diseases.

Heatstroke is a particularly dangerous type of high temperature, because the body is not able to stop the temperature from continuing to rise. It can happen when a child is left in a hot car or when you exercise too strenuously without enough to drink.

Unexplained fevers that continue for days or weeks are called fevers of undetermined origin (FUO).

Answer 2

When the body is infected by something, it raises its own temperature in an effort to drive off the infection. We call this rise in temperature a fever.

The infection that causes the rise in temperature (fever) can be a virus, a bacteria, or a fungus.

There are other conditions where the body mounts a fever but there is no infection - in most of these conditions, the body is fooled into thinking that there is an infection when, in fact, there is not. The body then raises its temperature to cope with the non-existent infection and a fever results. Many of the auto-immune diseases (diseases where the body's immune system attacks itself) do this.

Answer 3

FJM is right. It is your body's response to an infection. The purpose of the fever is to raise the body temperature enough to hopefully aid your immune system in the killing of the invading "whatever it is" infection.

Unfortunately your body sometime gets so hot it will start destroying itself trying to fight the infection.

There is no "fever germ", but there are plenty of germs that will cause a fever.

Answer 4

It's caused by bacteria.

Anyway, a fever usually comes after a cold because a person will make the room too hot and pile on blankets, just because a cold is called a "cold." The room should be temperate. I think the fever is the most painful part of a cold or flu. My head feeling like it's melting on the inside is not something I like at all.

Answer 5

A fever is your bodies (positive) response to something that has invaded it. Not a virus or a germ.