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ELI5: What would happen if bodies didn't get symptoms from viruses?
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Since coughing and fever etc. are the bodys attempt to remove the disease, what would happen if someones body didn't do that? Like if someone was infected with the flu for example but their body did nothing to remove it.

Would their organs just shut down? And would there still be symptoms from the virus or bacteria itself?

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Some symptoms aren't directly attempts to remove the pathogen so much as attempts to deal with damage to tissue caused. When a cell is destroyed because a virus multiplied within it uncontrollably to the point of killing it the surrounding tissue will start to swell which causes contractions and can lead to things such as coughing.

With that out of the way, yes things would get worse. The longer an infection goes on the more organs are affected. This is for example why exercising during a cold is such a terrible idea -- It can turn a minor affliction into a permanent inflammation of the heart because the pathogens got into places they normally wouldn't if the diseases progressed normally.

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1 month ago