Pel-Ebstein fever is a rarely seen condition noted in patients with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in which the patient experiences fevers which cyclicly increase then decrease over an average period of 1 or two weeks. ^[1] The same type of cyclic fever is also associated with other conditions such tuberculosis^[2], but it is not called “Pel-Ebstein fever” unless the fever is associated with Hodgkin’s.^[3]

The cause is currently unknown although speculation centers on host immune response, lymph node necrosis, and damaged stomal cells. ^[4]

Treatment with nonsteroidal antiinflamitory agents or treatment of the underlying Hodgkin’s (usually with chemotherapy) will help the symptoms. ^[1]

The condition is named after Wilhelm Ebstein and PK Pel who both published papers in 1887 noting the phenomenon. ^{[5] [6] [2]}

Researchers have speculated whether this condition truly exists. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Richard Asher refers to Pel-Ebstein fever as an example of a condition that exists only because it has a name. “Every student and every doctor knows that cases of Hodgkin’s disease may show a fever that is high for one week and low for the next week and so on. Does this phenomenon really exist at all?…” ^[7]

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