Fever origins in the tropics.

The causes of fever were attempted to identify in a prospective study on 300 adult in- and outpatients with fever at Kinshasa Teaching Hospital, Zaire. Infection was by far the primary cause of fever (87%). Tuberculosis occurred in 15% of the inpatients. Malaria was the most frequent febrile disease: one fever in two was malaria. Connective tissue diseases and neoplasms were rare.