Question

The chemical substances used to bring down body temperature in a high fever are known as:

Answer 1

Hint: Recollect the drugs that you take when you’re suffering from fever. These types of drugs target the hypothalamus and make bodywork lower the temperature which results in a fever reduction. Use the hint, that the synonym for feverish is pyretic.

Complete step by step solution:
-In pharmacology, a pharmaceutical drug (also called a medication of medicine) is a chemical substance used to treat, cure, prevent or diagnose a disease or to promote the well being of a living organism.
-The classification of drugs can be done in the following ways:
(i)Based on the pharmaceutical effect- These types of drugs are used for the treatment of a particular type of problem. For example, analgesics like KneeRelief, Aleve PM are used as painkillers, antiseptics like Betnovate and Bepanthen are used to treat microbial infections.
(ii) Based on drug action- In this type of classification, the drugs which target a particular biochemical process are placed in the same class. For example, antihistamines like Dimetane and Zyrtec inhibit the action of histamine which causes inflammation in the body.
(iiI) Based on chemical structure- The drugs having a similar structure and similar pharmacological activity are placed under the same class. For example, sulphonamides.
(iv) Based on molecular targets- These drugs interact with a particular group of biomolecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids. Drugs with some or more common structural features may have the same mechanism of action on targets.
-Anti-pyretic are a class of drugs that belong to the first classification of the drug mentioned above.
-Antipyretics causes the hypothalamus to override a prostaglandin-induced (prostaglandins are a group of physiologically active lipid compounds called eicosanoids having hormone-like effects in animals) increase in temperature.
-Most common antipyretics which like the US approved include ibuprofen and aspirin. Ibuprofen and aspirin are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are used primarily as analgesics (pain relievers) but also have antipyretic properties.

Note: However drugs can effectively help in curing diseases, but non-pharmacological treatment can also help in getting relief. Bathing or sponging with lukewarm or cool water can effectively reduce body temperature in those people who have got their temperature raised due to heat illness. Heat illness is a spectrum of disorders that are caused due to environmental exposure to heat and includes minor symptoms like heat cramps, heat exhaustion, etc.