The immune response that causes a fever may also activate the nervous system, and elevated body temperatures may help treat autism and cancer. An article titled “Fever is a good thing” in the December issue of the Spanish monthly magazine Viacom mentions the personal experience of James Simon, a wealthy mathematician. This father has a daughter with autism. Through observation over time he noticed that whenever his daughter had a fever, she seemed to communicate more smoothly with the outside world, and some of the pathological and crazy behaviors characteristic of autism seemed to lessen. In 2007, a team of epidemiologists from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health achieved the first results. They published a study confirming that fever can alleviate autism symptoms. But why? Let’s have a fever Marianne Meller, a Spanish-born researcher at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at Rockefeller University, also participated in the research project funded by James Simon’s foundation, according to the report. She believes that “fever is a defense mechanism that is a reflection of the immune system becoming active when pathogens are present in the body. We therefore believe that the relationship between fever and behavioral changes reflects a real link between the immune system and the nervous system. Therefore, the immune system response process that causes fever may also stimulate or suppress certain areas of the nervous system that are altered by autism. This is the reason for the temporary shift in behavioral traits that occurs in autistic individuals.” Mellor also mentioned, “We also believe that certain areas of the brain that are responsible for responding to body temperature are also interconnected with areas of the brain that are responsible for regulating autism-related behaviors. Thus, temporary activation of these areas may lead to altered neuronal activity in areas involving anxiety, social behavior, irritability and language. There may also be an after-effect that results in the activation or suppression of genes associated with certain neuronal activities.” Regardless of the cause, the report says, there is no doubt that fever is beneficial in relieving autism symptoms. Even fever could one day be used as a “prescription” to artificially keep autistic people at high body temperatures. The latest trend in cancer drug treatment is to use immunotherapy, which takes steps to activate the immune system to fight cancer cells, according to the report. Ignacio Melero, an expert in immunotherapy at the University of Navarra and the Center for Applied Medical Research in Spain, said, “The appearance of a tumor shows that it has the ability to tease the immune system. With the various tools of immunotherapy, we pursue the goal of training the immune system to function, telling it in an artificial way how to recognize and destroy cancer cells”. A fever is part of the body’s immune system. According to Melero, a treatment that uses fever as a lead is known as thermotherapy, which means preheating the body temperature of a patient under anesthesia to simulate a persistent high fever. However, this approach is risky, and to this day an effective method has not been studied. Perhaps it would make sense if it could be combined with other, more effective immunotherapies. On the other hand, the medical community has also recently discovered that some chronic conditions, such as depression and anxiety, can cause the body’s temperature to rise. Psychotherapy In 2014, scientists at Kyoto University identified a neural circuit associated with the elevated body temperature caused by depression, according to the report. The neural circuit connects the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus to the median suture nucleus of the medulla oblongata. The researchers said, “Understanding this mechanism is important for understanding how psychogenic fever develops as well as for developing treatment options.” Carmen, a 51-year-old woman who lives alone, usually leads a relatively healthy life. But starting a few months ago she began to have frequent fevers that came and went quickly and without more debilitating symptoms. After various tests, the doctor diagnosed her with “psychogenic fever”. The reason was that four months ago, her sister and her family, who lived very close to her, moved to a large house far away and could only come back to visit her every weekend. Now, she has to go to her small company, where she has worked for more than 20 years, and continue to work as a secretary every day. After psychotropic medication, Carmen’s fever disappeared. According to the report, Carmen’s example does exist and a more plausible explanation can be found in medical science. Depression is simply a psychological process that occurs when we perceive a threat around us or when something happens that is beyond our capabilities. In this case, our body is ready to either respond to the danger or to “run away”, resulting in increased breathing and heart rate, and a consequent increase in body temperature. This is hypothermia caused by depression. However, 95% of fever cases are simply a reaction of our body’s organs to a pathogen. According to pediatrician Housus Martinez, “Previously, if the body felt uncomfortable and the temperature rose, it was considered a reaction of the body’s organs to pathogens, so fever was seen as an indication that the body’s defense system was working and the patient was in the process of recovery. It was not until later, when we began to be able to measure body temperature with the help of a thermometer, that fever became the main physical manifestation we see.” Obsessed with temperature In 2014, national pediatric associations around the world agreed to find ways to counteract the morbid “fear” of fevers, especially the way most parents view them, according to the report. A study published in the monthly issue of the American Journal of Pediatric Diseases warned about this common mindset. The report says that most parents worry a little too much about fevers below 38 degrees Celsius. Many are concerned that their child’s elevated temperature may have dire consequences for the body, and 52 percent of parents even believe that if the fever reaches 40 degrees Celsius, the child is at risk of developing a serious neurological disorder. Martinez noted, “The blame is definitely on us. In fact, when parents run to the emergency room with their children, the first thing they look at is how to take their child’s temperature. So invariably the message we send is that temperature comes first and all other symptoms are secondary.” However, just the opposite is true. “When our body temperature is elevated, our body feels uncomfortable, and actually so do the germs. Therefore, our body raises its temperature in order to make pathogenic bacteria feel less comfortable when they attack us as well, and they can no longer continue to multiply. However, we who consistently think we are smarter than our bodies use antipyretic drugs to lower our body temperature, which does not actually lower the temperature, what we should have done is to relieve the symptoms, such as headaches and dizziness, etc.”. According to the report, since the British doctor Clifford Olbert invented the first medical thermometer, this tool has turned into a symbol of modern medicine, becoming the most common medical device necessary for every household. However, Martinez points out that “the thermometer is only a tool for measuring body temperature, which often changes under the influence of the external environment and various variables, such variables include the amount of clothing worn. Therefore, we must focus on the symptoms, not the temperature.” Boosting immunity A study published by the American Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases reports that the benefits of fever are numerous, such as the fact that newborns who experience the fever process in their first year of life are significantly less likely to develop allergies in their early years than those who do not have a fever. The medical community has developed a general opinion that early exposure to infection protects the body from allergies. However, Martinez also raises a particular possibility of concern: “For newborns at 3 months of age, their cranial barrier is still very fragile. In this case, any infection could turn into sepsis or meningitis. This is a very serious matter. Therefore, parents of newborns must be vigilant for fevers above 38 degrees Celsius and should seek emergency medical attention as soon as the temperature exceeds 38 degrees in order to fight the infection as early as possible”. In 1660, Thomas Sydenham, an English physician, wrote: “Fever is a mighty engine with which nature has given the world to conquer its enemies.” However, what we now know is that what Sidnham said is not only true, but in many cases, high body temperature can be a powerful weapon that allows us to effectively kill deadly enemies.