英語科普閱讀:你知道發燒的妙處嗎?

Fever can play a variety of roles, such as inhibiting pathogen replication. It also apparently increases the population of killer T cells of the immune system. Christopher Intagliata reports.

發燒有多種不同的作用，如抑制病菌復制。它還可以顯著增加免疫系統中殺傷性T細胞的數量。

I've always thought that when I get a fever, it's my body trying to make things uncomfortable for the invading pathogen. And that's often true—higher temperatures can inhibit the bad guys' ability to replicate. But my fever may actually be a one-two-punch. In addition to slowing down the invader, the heat helps the immune system recruit more troops for a counter-attack. That finding appears in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

我很早就知道，發燒的時候，其實是我的身體正在對入侵的病原體做出抵抗。這是事實---高溫可以抑制壞病菌復制的能力。但發燒更是一個組合打擊。除了減緩病原體的入侵，高溫可以幫助免疫系統召集更多的部隊做出抵抗。這一研究發表在《白細胞生物學雜志》。

Researchers warmed up one group of mice to body temperatures of about 103 degrees Fahrenheit. They left another group at normal core temperature—about the same as ours. Then they injected both groups of mice with an antigen, a substance that attracts the attention of the immune system.

研究人員將一組老鼠的體溫升高到103華氏度，另外一組保持正常體溫---大約是人體溫度。然后向這兩組老鼠的體內注射抗原——一種會引起免疫系統反應的物質。

Blood samples taken three days later revealed that the feverish mice had nearly twice as many killer T-cells: the kind of immune cells that can hunt down infected cells or tumor cells, and slaughter them.

三天后，這兩組老鼠的血樣表明，體溫較高老鼠組體內的殺傷性T細胞是正常組的2倍，這種免疫細胞可以追蹤感染細胞或癌細胞，并將其消滅。

So when you're sick and you get the chills, the authors say, your body may be trying to tell you to hop under some blankets. Lie down, warm up and send a message. The heat is on.

所以，當你生病或感到寒冷時，表示你的身體正直向你傳達信息--裹條毯子。躺在床上吧，熱起來，身體自會做出反應。熱度來襲啊。