title: Fever in adults. What to do when the cause is not obvious.
abstract: A fever can be trivial or serious, fleeting or protracted. When the cause is not obvious, a variety of diagnostic testing methods along with some ingenuity on the physician's part will usually be needed. Dr Hurley outlines the approach and discusses the special challenges presented when fever of obscure cause is protracted and when fever occurs in an immunocompromised patient.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications; D003095:Collagen Diseases / Q000150:complications; D005335:Fever of Unknown Origin / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000276:immunology; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000150:complications