英语科普阅读:你知道发烧的妙处吗?

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.

发烧有多种不同的作用，如抑制病菌复制。它还可以显著增加免疫系统中杀伤性T细胞的数量。

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，发烧的时候，其实是我的身体正在对入侵的病原体做出抵抗。这是事实---高温可以抑制坏病菌复制的能力。但发烧更是一个组合打击。除了减缓病原体的入侵，高温可以帮助免疫系统召集更多的部队做出抵抗。这一研究发表在《白细胞生物学杂志》。

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.

研究人员将一组老鼠的体温升高到103华氏度，另外一组保持正常体温---大约是人体温度。然后向这两组老鼠的体内注射抗原——一种会引起免疫系统反应的物质。

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，这两组老鼠的血样表明，体温较高老鼠组体内的杀伤性T细胞是正常组的2倍，这种免疫细胞可以追踪感染细胞或癌细胞，并将其消灭。

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，当你生病或感到寒冷时，表示你的身体正直向你传达信息--裹条毯子。躺在床上吧，热起来，身体自会做出反应。热度来袭啊。