That is one of the most frequently asked questions in medicineand the experts disagree.

Matthew Kluger, vice president for research at the Medical College of Georgia and a fever physiologist, said that animal studies suggest that fever is beneficial. Fever is so “costly” in metabolic terms in humans, each 2 degrees Fahrenheit of fever raises heart rate by 10 percent that fever probably never would have evolved in the first place unless it did more good than harm.