Encounters

    This past Monday I was at my job and I walked in ready to start my shift and my manager on duty asked me lots of questions in regards to Covid-19 such as if I had come into contact with anybody that had it etc etc. They always ask these questions just to be safe of course, but, on Monday, manager pulled out the infrared thermometer. She checked my temperature and a cute little smiley face and green light popped up, indicating I was okay and didn't have a fever. As we learned in class, a fever is a sign that your body is fighting off some type of bacterial or viral infection. Viruses proliferate and replicate more efficiently at our normal temperature (98.6 F), so by increasing body temperature, the virus has a harder time reproducing and damaging the host cells. Fever is a defensive reaction and once a pathogen invades, the immune response reacts with pyrogens, produced by bacterium. Once the substance reaches the hypothalamus via blood flow, the pyrogens inhibit heat sensing neurons and excite cold sensing ones. This step is what causes body temperature to rise above the normal range as the hypothalamus gets "confused" in a way. The rise in temperature also helps increase the WBC replication and antibody production.


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