![Outline ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to Fever - ACES
Similar to Fever - ACES (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Fever - ACES
- 1. Ditch the Reliever, Bring on the Fever Duration of sickness behaviour will be significantly different with no aspirin treatment versus aspirin treatment in male rats Alisha Jiwani, Dorcas Kwan, Amanda Li, Joy Santiago
- 11. Method
- 13. Groups
- 27. Discussion
- 29. Future implications and potential applications
- 31. Thank you! Dr. Faure, Brandon & class!
- 32. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- As students with busy lifestyles…we can’t afford to get sick. At the first sensations of symptoms: fever, fatigue, sore throat, dizziness—an overall feeling of anguish and discontent we run to our medicine cabinets or mommies and pop two aspirins. But fever is one of the oldest medical symptoms and has persisted throughout the animal kingdom for hundreds of millions of years. If it’s so bad…why is it still here plaguing us? So…because of this persistence and prevalence we decided to delve deeper into this phenomenon, with the idea that there “must be some sort of purpose as to why this mechanism has evolved” However, we are also taking a different approach; not only focusing on fever but also the sickness behaviour that accompanies it—which I will be elaborating on further in a little bit.
- So…first of all fever! What’s the deal with fever? Fever is generally known as a normal and expected physiological response to infection marked by an elevated temperature above the normal range. As mentioned earlier, it is exhibited by numerous species throughout the animal kingdom, even the ones that cannot generate fever. In one famous experiment by Matt Kluger, he found that infected cold-blooded desert lizar ds sought places warm enough to raise their body temperature up by two degrees. And lizards unable to do this were more likely to die. Baby rabbits, who are unable to generate fever, find warmer places to raise their body temperature when they are sick. Adult rabbits can have fever, but blocking it with fever lowering drugs results in a higher likelihood of death. The benefits of fever can also be found in humans through historical records. Before the widespread use of anti-pyretics (drugs that cause the hypothalamus to override an interleukin -induced increase in temperature) there were various forms of fever-therapy in which fever was used as a cure. [ show photo] and in the human nervous system follows a mechanic, physiological, biochemical response.
- Take for example this 1950 machine called “The Hypertherm”. It is an insulated cabinet where temperature is raised and maintained by circulating hot moist air.
- Another notable example is the work by Julius Wagner-Jauregg who noted that some syphilis patients improved after getting malaria (in which symptoms typically include fever) and he intentionally infected thousands of syphilis patients with malaria (very unethical!) and achieved a 30% remission rate in an era where fewer than 1 in a hundred syphilis patients recovered. Another example would be what the American Indians of the Northwest Tribe did to the sick…if you read our proposal…you know it would entail stuffing the patient in a freshly killed horse carcass…and fortunately, I have no pictures to show for that.
- From these examples, it is clear that the benefits of fever were appreciated before the rise in Anti-pyretics. However, shortly after this anti-pyretic revolution “fever phobia” began to take hold and fever had been transformed into a harmful by-product of infection rather than a host-defense response, probably due to the misconstruction of the relief felt after the use of anti-pyretics, which are often analgesics as well.
- Now, fever in the human nervous system follows a mechanic, physiological, biochemical response and this complex cascade also results in sickness behaviour which include: fatigue, loss of appetite, inability to concentrate, loss of interest in social activity… These changes in behaviour, like fever, can be considered to be an adaptive strategy that resets the organism’s priorities in order to promote resistance to pathogens and recovery from infection.
- With this as our background, our rationale is to examine the effect of anytipyretics (particularly aspirin) in fever and sickness behaviour. Only a few human studies have tried to evaluate fever as an adaptation to combat infection and in terms of sickness behaviour. Most have been limited to the effectiveness of fever. For example, in one study, a group of volunteers got colds on purpose some then took aspirin and the others a sugar pill/placebo. Results show that individuals who took the placebo had a significantly higher antibody response and less nasal stuffiness. So from our knowledge, no studies have attempted to document the quantitative relationships between cytokine levels and non-specific sickness behaviour symptoms. Therefore we conclude that more research needs to be done in terms of the benefits of the sickness behaviour that accompanies fever, in humans and how anti-pyretics affect this. Using animal models we decided to explore the fever and sickness behaviour relationship. We hypothesize…
- The main motivation for our study was to add to the evidence of fever and sickness behaviour as a beneficial mechanism during sickness and that We must re-evaluate the use of anti-pyretics in suppression of fever because of the negative consequences, particularly, in prolonging sickness and increasing the risk of a secondary infection. Additional research on fever may also provide another benefit by easing “fever phobia” seen especially in new parents. Further research can also fuel novel ideas and hypotheses regarding the adaptiveness of these mechanisms but also providing insight and possible applications in overlapping behaviour found in disorders or syndromes. For example, major clinical depression follows and involves very similar biochemical cascades in cytokine-induced sickness behaviour.
- Another thing to remember is that you must take our presentation with a grain of salt. We are not advocating that people never take drugs to combat or reduce fever, merely bringing to light that fever is not a bad thing and has positive effects and a survival value. In fact, we all know that fever can be fatal when it is too high above the normal range and if it persists for more than 4 days. In this case, anti-pyretics, drugs and cooling techniques must be employed. Our study aims not only to add to the literature of fever and sickness behaviour as adaptive mechanisms with survival value but also provide further appreciation for these evolved physiological and psychological mechanisms which persist for a purpose.