Sleep deprivation especially staying awake for 48 hours at a time has been linked to an increase risk of developing cancer and heart disease.
Brain cells could also potentially die off and tissues in your heart could be damaged. Staying up for 48 hours will make you less alert and you'll develop confusion as well as your reaction time will slow down and you increase your chance of getting into an auto accident as well.
Avoid staying up for even 24 hours at a time since doing so will harm your health and you shave days and sometimes years off your lifespan when you do stay up for 48 hours or longer.
Sleep is very important to our health since when we sleep our bodies are healing itself and our brain cells and brain are repairing and and charging back up for the next day.