Fever Isn’t Cooking Germs—It Supercharge Immunity

Why does a fever help you recover from infection? In this video, I explained why fevers don’t “cook” germs but instead power up your immune army — from neutrophils and T cells to heat shock proteins that speed cell trafficking and antigen delivery. Learn how modest temperature boosts protect cellular machinery, enhance pathogen recognition, and why animals across 600 million years of evolution turn up the heat when infected. Perfect for sci-curious adults interested in immunology, physiology, and evolutionary biology. If you enjoyed this deep dive, please like and share the video to help others discover it. #fever #immunology #HeatShockProteins #scienceexplained
REFERENCES
**************
Appenheimer, M.M. & Evans, S.S. (2018) Temperature and adaptive immunity. Handbook of Clinical Neurology 156: 397–415. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/handbook/abs/pii/B9780444639127000242?via%3Dihub

Casadevall, A. (2016) Thermal Restriction as an Antimicrobial Function of Fever. PLoS Pathog 12(5): e1005577. https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.1005577

ChangDong L. et al. (2019). Fever Promotes T Lymphocyte Trafficking via a Thermal Sensory Pathway Involving Heat Shock Protein 90 and α4 Integrins. Immunity 50(1):137-151. https://www.cell.com/immunity/fulltext/S1074-7613(18)30495-3

Evans, S.S. et al. (2015) Fever and the thermal regulation of immunity: the immune system feels the heat. Nature Reviews Immunology 15(6): 335+. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4786079/
Hasday, J.D., Thompson, C., Singh, I.S. (2014) Fever, immunity, and molecular adaptations. Comprehensive Physiology 4:109–48. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2040-4603.2014.tb00544.x

Hasday, J.D. & Singh, I.S. (2000) Fever and the heat shock response: distinct, partially overlapping processes. Cell Stress Chaperones 5:471–480. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC312879/

Javid, B., MacAry, P.A. & Lehner, P.J. (2007) Structure and function: heat shock proteins and adaptive immunity. Journal of Immunology 179:2035–2040. https://academic.oup.com/jimmunol

Mackowiak, P. A.: Direct effects of hyperthermia on pathogenic microorganisms: teleological implications with regard to fever. Reviews of Infectious Diseases 1981, 3: 508–518. https://academic.oup.com/cid/article-abstract/3/3/508/307776
CHAPTERS
▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀
0:00 Fever's Hidden Helpers
0:23 The Heat of Life
1:58 Dangers of too much heat
3:00 Should You Fight Fever?