Prof. Kozak: we reach for antipyretics too often

Body temperature e.g. 37.2 degrees Celsius is not even a subfebrile state and does not need to be beaten; fever stimulates and trains the immune system; public awareness of this is deformed by promoted antipyretics, says PAP prof. Wieslaw Kozak.

– Fever is a physiological response to some environmental factor – a pathogen, toxin or stressor element. It is a reaction to this kind of situation – physiological, regulated and extremely evolutionarily old and common throughout the kr lestwo animals. We now know that fever is induced by the body itself as a result of the so-called. "immune contact" with an invading agent (bacteria, virus),” stresses Prof. Kozak from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, who has been studying it for several decades.

In his opinion, checking body temperature by touching the forehead is customary.

– We usually touch our forehead with our hand or cheek because he temperature difference gives the sensation of heat. The point is that m zg more dissipates heat, flowing into it from the body, ie. It reflects them to the outside through the sk rne in contrast to what happens at the periphery of the. The vessels that drain blood from the m zgu on the face and forehead contract, and give off this heat, the fever research expert explained.

The specialist points out that raising the temperature stimulates i "trains" immune systems.

– If a certain degree of immune readiness is to be maintained in the body, we need to train this system, and the training factor is precisely fever,” mentioned Prof. Kozak.

He added also that public awareness of this issue is very low, and in a strong way b deformed by the promotion of The animals were also treated with different types of agents to beat the feverish body temperature.

"Let’s not succumb to fever phobia"

– In normal situations, a temperature of 37.2 degrees Celsius is not a febrile condition, nor even a subfebrile one. Looking immediately for methods to beat a fever is a bad strategy. When a child has a fever, there is immediate fear and the parent wants to bring his body temperature to normal, but this does not at all mean that he gets rid of the cause, kt ra fever caused. Yes, in a child it is necessary to protect the head first and foremost. A towel dipped in water at a temperature of 20-25 degrees is enough to cool the child’s forehead and neck. It must not be icy, as the reaction will be the opposite,” pointed out Prof. Cossack.

His team’s research at the UMK shows that there are many wasps b between 50-55 years old, which re cease in og le fever.

– This is due to the fact that the body becomes accustomed to the fact that when a fever occurs, this individual immediately uses the means of in antipyretics (in physiology, this is called febrile diastasis, or acquired fever-free syndrome). Their use goes hand in hand with the counterb l action, which gives comfort to the patient, but deprives him of all those elemental in the right and healthy, kt re should occur in him, and they do not occur because we take these agents,” he explained.

Prof. Kozak supplemented that "Fever is a symptom, a reaction to the intrusion of a pathogenic agent, not a disease in itself. Just as the reaction in such a situation is the synthesis of antibodies".

– Let’s not succumb to fever phobia. Its absence for an extended period of time, e.g. several years should worry us, because it shows badly about our immune system, he urged.