Chills is a feeling of coldness occurring during a high fever, but sometimes is also a common symptom which occurs alone in specific people. It occurs during fever due to the release of cytokines and prostaglandins as part of the inflammatory response, which increases the set point for body temperature in the hypothalamus. The increased set point causes the body temperature to rise (pyrexia), but also makes the patient feel cold or chills until the new set point is reached. Shivering also occurs along with chills because the patient's body produces heat during muscle contraction in a physiological attempt to increase body temperature to the new set point. When it does not accompany a high fever, it is normally a light chill. Sometimes a chill of medium power and short duration may occur during a scare, especially in scares of fear, commonly interpreted like or confused by trembling.
Beth has been coughing all morning and she has a high fever. She decided to stay home but has noticed that she can not get warm and is shaking. Meanwhile her roommate Susan was driving to work when she was suddenly cut off by a large truck and had to go off the road to narrowly miss an accident. Susan was terrified, she looked at the steering wheel and saw that her hands were shaking.
Is Susan sick.