The significance of fever in hematologic disorders

ABSTRACT

Fever, long accepted as a sign of diseases, has been the basis for the collection of a large body of empiric knowledge. It is accepted that fever accompanies diseases of many causes - infections, blood dyscrasias, collagen-vascular diseases, neoplasms, certain metabolic disorders, and processes which cause death of tissues. The pathogenesis of fever in these diverse states, while the subject of much experimental work, remains obscureThe blood dyscrasias usually accompanied by fever include the lymphomas, leukemias, and myelomaThe characteristics of the fever, with or without associated infection are quite similar in the different conditions discussed. Fever due to infection could not be reliably differentiated from fever not due to infection by either the height or character of the fever curve, or by counting the absolute number of neutrophils in the blood. The etiology of febrile episodes is still most successfully detected by means of history, physical examination; roentgenegraphic examinations, blood cultures and other cultures as indicated.(Summary)