NEW SCIENTIST: Fever can help the immune system, so what should we do if we have one?

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The most common cause of this is infection. “When immune cells recognise the telltale signs of a germ in the body – and often this can be quite early on in an infection – they release secretions which act on a brain area called the hypothalamus,” says Daniel Davis, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, UK, and author of The Beautiful Cure: Harnessing your body’s natural defences. The hypothalamus is responsible, among other things, for controlling body temperature, and …