CORONAVIRUS AND ELEVATED BODY TEMPERATURE

DOES IT ALWAYS MEAN AN INFECTION? HOW RELIABLE IS A TEMPERATURE GUN? HOW IS FEVER RELATED TO HEALTH?

Fever is our body’s defense mechanism

In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, seeing the use of the infrared temperature gun measuring forehead skin temperature, as screening tool for coronavirus infections was a sad reminder to me that how unprepared and how wrong we are.

In the first place, we don’t know how reliable temperature readings are with temperature guns. Secondly, skin temperature is always 10 degrees F less than core body temperature. Thirdly, there are many other infectious diseases, besides Coronavirus, that cause elevated body temperatures. One out of four infected cases remains contagious without any fever symptoms. Additionally, body temperature could be elevated without infections, such as inflammatory diseases, malignancies, drug reactions, allergic and autoimmune disorders.

So, just checking skin temperature and assuming it is elevated because of coronavirus infection is nothing more than “fool’s gold.” The real gold standard for Coronavirus screening is testing...testing… and testing. Unfortunately, because of negligence by the present world leaders, there are not enough testing kits to go around.

Nevertheless, seeing temperature measurement with temperature guns raised my curiosity to look at the temperature measurements and its relationships to health from a historical perspective.

The determination of the normal value of body temperature dates back to Leipzig, Germany. In 1851, a German doctor by the name of Dr.Wunderlich, took millions of temperature readings from 25,000 patients and averaging them out, declared that normal body temperature is 36.8 degrees C / 98.6 degrees F. Elevated body temperature above this level is a sign of infection. Since then, this value has been accepted as normal body temperature. 

But in reality, we don’t really know how accurate Dr. Wunderlich’s thermometers were or from which body parts (oral, armpit, rectal) the temps were taken. Each body part has a slightly different body temperature from each other.  Additionally, body temperature changes from person to person and from the time of the day it is taken. During sleep and early in the morning, body temp is lower than in the afternoon. Elderly people tend to have lower body temperatures than younger people.

Heat in our body is produced by metabolic and functional activities of our vital organs, especially muscles, heart and liver. The Hypothalamus region of our brain is in charge regulating the heat of our body at a fairly constant 37-38 degree C for the efficient workings of our internal vital organs and homeostasis. Temperature sensors in the nerve endings of our massive nerve system constantly monitor and detect body temperature changes and notifies the hypothalamus to regulate our body temperature. If body temp is cool, the hypothalamus increases muscle activities by shivering for extra heat production and induces peripheral vasoconstriction to prevent heat loss through the skin. Conversely if the body heat is high, the hypothalamus induces sweating and peripheral vasodilatation to accelerate heat loss.

There is an interesting connection between body temperature and the immune system. Our immune system’s ability to fight infection increases when temperature is elevated. In a sense, fever is our body’s defense mechanism. Ifa fever is not very high or very uncomfortable, it should not be lowered by giving aspirin or medication. Many bacteria and viruses do not do well when the body temperature is elevated. That is why flu and viruses strike in the winter.

Scientific studies have shown that heating tumor cells make them more susceptible to chemotherapy. When chemotherapy drugs are heated up to 103 degrees F, drug uptake increases in certain cancer types.

Scientists also noted that our average body temp is cooling about 0.2 degrees C per decade. This is associated with a longer life span. Indeed, when genetically engineered mice have half a degree lower body temperature, they lived significantly longer than ordinary mice.

In conclusion, as I see it, having a fever isn’t bad - it is our body’s defense mechanism, not fool’s gold.