• Question: why do people swet when they are ill

    Asked by joshprudhoe12 to Bob, Katie, Nisha, Sallie, Vee on 4 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Bob Bonwick

      Bob Bonwick answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      we sweat all the time, but it’s more pronouced when we are hot. This one of the ways the body tried to cool itself. Sweating makes the skin wet, as it evaporates it takes the heat with it, thus cooling the skin and body. When we are ill, one of the bodys mechanisms of killing off an infection is to get hotter, the bacteria making us unwell cannot withstand the change in temperature, but the body can for a short time, a few days or so.

    • Photo: Sallie Baxendale

      Sallie Baxendale answered on 4 Jul 2012:

      Like Bob says, when we are ill our bodies sometimes get hotter to try and kill the bacteria that are attacking us, and so we sweat more

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