MediumThinker -“to chime in with his/her’s expertise”
Smells like sarcasm, but anyway it’s a him.
“Ii is quite fascinating. endotoxins during an infection causes your body to produce cytokines (il-1, il-6 etc.)”
I guess the “etc.” includes TNF-alpha, but this is not important for the general public. What is important is that there are two types of pyrogens -exogenous & endogenous. Cytokines are from the endogenous (comes from inside the body) and infections are from the exogenous (comes from outside the body). Both can cause fever.
The main thing with s/o who is sick is Not their temp., but how they look and act. If they look sick -then they are until proven otherwise.
Also, any fever over 103.6 degrees (39.8 Celcius) should probably take fever-reducing pills and seek medical care, not necessarily in a ER, but by your PCP, unless it’s obvious that the person has something like a cold. Also, if they have serious S & S (eg. not alert/responding, diff. breathing, dehydrated, chest pain, etc.) then they should go to an ER or call 911.