Relationship of Body Temperature to the Lethal Action of Bacterial Endotoxin*

The Role of Endotoxin during Typhoid Fever and Tularemia in Man. III. Hyperreactivity to Endotoxin during Infection *

“…The unaltered pyrogenic responses to endotoxin in control subjects infected with the virus of sandfly fever provide additional evidence to exclude nonspecific effects of infection or fever per se. The absence of augmented pyrogenic reactivity to endotoxin during fever induced by a hot environment, as mentioned previously (17,18), is also consistent with this thesis. c) Augmented pyrogenic responses occurred regardless of whether a high degree of tolerance to the endotoxin was induced before infection by repeated daily intravenous injections or whether only a single control intravenous base-line test was performed.…”

“…We emphasize that a real augmentation of pyrogenic responsiveness to endotoxin occurs during illness in that the increments in body temperature were consistently greater in both rate and magnitude, and usually duration, i.e., fever indexes were higher than those seen during the control period. This is in sharp distinction to observations by Bannister in man (17) and by Atwood and Kass in rabbits (18), wherein the injection of endotoxin during fever induced by exposure to a hot environment led to increments in body temperature (rate, magnitude, and duration) no greater than those seen under normal environmental conditions. Although body temperatures after endotoxin were higher in the hot environment, the initial temperatures were correspondingly elevated; these reactions represent additive rather than hyperreactive pyrogenic responses to endotoxin.…”

Treatment of fever in childhood

“…Others have failed to establish a consistent relationship between temperature and antimicrobial activity [52,54,75]. The action of endotoxins may be enhanced at high temperatures [6]. Secondly, fever may provide a better environment for host defences.…”

The Effect of Lowered Body Temperature on Lifespan and Immune and Non-Immune Processes

“…A radioprotec tive effect was obtained in goldfish by lowering the water temperature [Owen and H ildemann, I960], With m oderate and mild hypothermia, increased relative resistance to bacterial infection persists [Fedor et ai, 1958], but graft survival is prolonged [Tsuji et ai, 1969]. Even mildly hypothermic rabbits are ten times more resistant to bacterial endotoxins than homeothermic rabbits [Atwood and Kass, 1964].…”