title: Megaloblastic anemia: A common but often neglected cause of pyrexia of unknown origin.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to study megaloblastic anemia as a cause of pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO).
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a study on 15 patients of megaloblastic anemia associated with fever, attending our hospital clinics over a period of 6 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While 11 patients had symptoms suggesting foci of infection and responded well to intravenous antibiotics, 4 patients had neither any evidence of infection nor responded with empirical broad spectrum antibiotic treatment. They were treated with vitamin B12/folate therapy which led to marked improvement in fever within 48 h. Presenting complaints of the patients and severity/duration of fever along with other epidemiological data were also studied in each case.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study led us to conclude that megaloblastic anemia forms an important and reversible cause of fever and should be ruled out in all patients presenting with PUO. This knowledge would help the physicians in adequate and timely management of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Bushra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Siddiqui
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Divya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rabindranath
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Shahbaz Habib
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Faridi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Azka Anees
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Sadaf
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haiyat
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Rabindranath
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Eswaran
keywords: Folate; megaloblastic anemia; pyrexia of unknown origin; vitamin B12