How Fevers REALLY Work

Fevers are one of our best weapons against infections, but they don't work like you might think.

We'd like to give a big thank you to Sharon Evans from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center for sharing her expertise for this video!

LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
Fever: a rise in body temperature, usually caused by infection
Heat shock proteins (HSP): a family of proteins that are produced by cells in response to exposure to stressful conditions
Neutrophils: white blood cells that play an important role in inflammation and are early responders to pathogens.
T cells: major components of the adaptive immune system whose roles include regulating the immune response to pathogens.

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CREDITS
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Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC

OUR STAFF
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Sarah Berman • Arcadi Garcia i Rius
David Goldenberg • Julián Gustavo Gómez
Melissa Hayes • Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich
Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

OUR LINKS
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REFERENCES
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[Carshunter]

to anyone watching this because they have a fever: i hope you get well soon <3

[Ali]

Immune system: Turns up the heat to fight an infection
Human: pops an aspirin to undo all of the immune systems work
Immune system: Who's side are you on?

[RealEngineering]

Always wondered this, but never actually looked for an answer. Great video

[ClemensAlive]

How does the body increase its temperature?
By increasing metabolism?

[diamondjub]

I was about to suggest a cop movie starring the immune system but then I remembered Osmosis Jones already existed

[rayceeya]

"Next time you get a fever, give it a warm welcome."
Also stay HYDRATED. Seriously, best thing you can do for yourself.

[DavidSilverGames]

Huh... I legit did not know this, or even guess anything like it. Thanks for the new tidbit and changing how I see the world in a small way. <3

[undead]

I literally woke up this morning with a fever. Excellent timing MinuteEarth.

[hamilpatel]

I totally thought a fever was more of a chemical thing, pumping enzymes and increasing metabolism or something. Really neat to get this closer look into what's going on. Love how you connect things back to something we all know and connect it back to the topic at hand (exercise overheating vs fever over-heating)

[CSGhostAnimation]

My body: Gets fever to fight infection

Me: Takes fever reducer

My body: *Disappointed Pakistani cricket fan

[rosepinkskyblue]

I need someone to re-ravel me like that heat shock protein at 1:36

[sapashini]

Watching this with a fever and sore throat, rooting for the home team 🤧

[thepokemonchannel]

What a coincidence!
I'm suffering from high fever and then suddenly this video!

[kirilkirilov]

Sometimes I get all emotional about how great our body is. Other times I get angry at how bad it is.

[mchammer]

2:52 thank you so much for this footnote. i keep offering this advice to everybody but it's rarely appreciated.

[illiacvie]

Actually i'm still curious about which organ produce the heat.
I know brain controls it, but when we get fever and rest, our muscle didn't move that much to produce heat. So where the heat came from?
Also when I get fever, I usually covered my self in blanket to reduce heat loss to surrounding air. Does this a good idea? will it reduce load of organ "heat producing" work?

[fangirlfortheages]

I love this because then this tracks the evolution of an immune response as an adoption of an existing physiological response. It’s like proof of how evolution is a series of small changes and accidents that build upon one another and aren’t always the most efficient just “good enough”
Maybe I do want to be a biology major

[TheBigPimp]

The animation is so cute and colourful making it more watchable for younger audiences and it teaches stuff in the simplest way whilst still making sense
I hope to see this in schools

[EntertainIQTV]

I thought that heat in our body when we have a fever was not good but you've help me a lot to learn about this thing. This is really great enlightenment in me.

Thumbs to this video. 👍

[gigglysamentz]

Good job explaining the very complex immune response in such understandable terms!