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FEVER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN
Posted under Anti-Infectives by adminIn a day in which one sees much of medical practice moving toward protocols and algorithms for diagnosing and treating disease, what make fever of unknown origin (FUO) a “hot topic” is that it does not submit easily to diagnostic and therapeutic protocols. Thanks to advances in radiology, microbiology, serology, and molecular diagnostics, many diseases that were once found only after exhaustive study are now discovered earlier in a fever evaluation.Fever of unknown origin is defined as an illness of greater than 3 weeks’ duration with fevers exceeding 38.1 °C (101°F) on repeated occasions without a diagnosis after 1 week of testing in the hospital. This definition has evolved to allow testing to occur in an outpatient environment. Frequently, an FUO is an atypical presentation of a more common illness, and the clinical experience of a specialist who has seen many presentations of disease can be insightful. Thus, during the evaluation of an FUO, it is reasonable to involve the help of consultants in infectious diseases, hematology and oncology, and rheumatology.*148/348/5*
