Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Fever classification
Introduction
Classification
Classification
Pyrexia (fever) can be classed as:
- Low grade: 38–39°C (100.4–102.2°F)
- Moderate: 39–40°C (102.2–104.0°F)
- High-grade: 40–42°C (104.0–107.6°F)
- Hyperpyrexia: Over 42°C (107.6°F)
Febricula is a mild fever of short duration, of indefinite origin, and without any distinctive pathology.[1]
Fever patterns
- Sustained fever: the fluctuation in temperature during a 24-hour period is 0.3 °C (0.5 °F) or less.
- Remittent fever: the temperature is elevated, and it falls each day, but not to normal, remaining 37.3 °C (99.2 °F) or above. The excursion in temperature is more than 0.3 °C (0.5 °F) and less than 1.4 °C (2.5 °F).
- Intermittent fever: the temperature is elevated but falls to normal (37.2 °C [99 °F] or below) each day. The excursion in temperature is more than 0.3 °C (0.5 °F) and less than 1.4 °C (2.5 °F).
- Hectic fever: remittent or intermittent fever, with a difference of 1.4 °C (2.5 °F) or more between peak and trough.[2]
Fever patterns and their clinical significance
The periodicity of fever generally offers little diagnostic value in ascertaining the etiology of fever. Characteristic fever patterns include:[3]
- Sustained fever (suggestive of brucellosis, drug fever, lobar pneumonia, tularemia, typhoid, typhus)
- Remittent fever (suggestive of tuberculosis, mycoplasma pneumonia, malaria, legionellosis)
- Intermittent fever (suggestive of malaria, kala-azar, pyaemia)
- Double quotidian fever (suggestive of Still’s disease, legionellosis, miliary tuberculosis, kala-azar)
- Quotidian fever (suggestive of Plasmodium falciparum or Plasmodium knowlesi malaria)
- Tertian fever (suggestive of Plasmodium vivax or Plasmodium ovale malaria)
- Quartan fever (suggestive of Plasmodium malariae malaria)
- Alternate-day fever (suggestive of response to antipyretic dosage schedule)
- Hyperpyrexia (suggestive of intracranial hemorrhage, septicemia, Kawasaki disease, thyroid storm, drug fever)
- Hectic or spiking pattern (suggestive of biliary or urinary tract infection, endocarditis)
- Morning temperature spikes (s/o typhoid fever, tuberculosis, polyarteritis nodosa)
- Relapsing pattern (suggestive of Borrelia recurrentis, typhoid fever, malaria, brucellosis, rat-bite fever)
- Irregular pattern (suggestive of factitious fever)
- Pel-Ebstein pattern (suggestive of Hodgkin’s lymphoma)
- Picket fence pattern (suggestive of acute mastoiditis complicated by transverse sinus thrombosis)
- Saddleback pattern (suggestive of dengue fever, leptospirosis, poliomyelitis, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis)
- Wunderlich curve pattern (suggestive of typhoid fever)
References
References
- ↑ Febricula, definition from Biology-Online.org, consulted June 7, 2006 http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Febricula
- ↑ Musher, D. M.; Fainstein, V.; Young, E. J.; Pruett, T. L. (1979-11). “Fever patterns. Their lack of clinical significance”. Archives of Internal Medicine. 139 (11): 1225–1228. ISSN 0003-9926. PMID 574377. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ Isaac, Benedict (1991). Unexplained fever : a guide to the diagnosis and management of febrile states in medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and subspecialties. Boca Raton: CRC Press. ISBN 9780849345562.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]