Recurring Fever

Fever, which is also known as pyrexia, is a condition where there is an increase in the body temperature, usually by about 1 - 2 degrees. Recurring fever is a symptom where the fever fails to recede and keeps coming back in the form of recurrent bouts. This is a symptom which can occur in a variety of serious diseases and disorders. Symptoms of it often occur in conjunction with other serious symptoms, like constant vomiting, irritability, loss of appetite, body pain etc. Thus, there are many diseases that can cause recurring fevers in children and adults, so it is important to try to diagnose the disease first and then try to treat the disease rather than the symptom.

Causes

• Typhoid: Typhoid is one of the most common causes of recurring fever. This is a disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract and is caused by the bacteria Salmonella typhi. Typhoid fever symptoms include slowly progressive fever accompanied by rashes and profuse sweating. Classically there is fluctuation between high fever and low-grade fever in typhoid, which thus, manifests as recurring fever. In fact, typhoid is said to be one of the most common causes of this type of fevers in adults.
• Brucellosis: Brucellosis is a contagious disease that is caused by ingestion of unsterilized milk or meat. Symptoms of this disease include joint and muscle pain, profusely sweating and fever.
• Malaria: Malaria is notorious for its fever. In this condition, there is infection caused due to Plasmodium vivax which leads to symptoms like fever, shivering, vomiting, arthralgia, anemia etc.
• Other Causes: Other causes include tuberculosis, lymphoma, cancer, familial Mediterranean fever, Borreliosis, hepatitis, cholera, rat bite fever, toxoplasmosis etc.

Accompanying Symptoms

It is very rarely seen that fever is the only symptom of a disease. Hence, given below are the commonly seen symptoms in conjunction with recurring fever:

• Increased heart rate
• Profusely sweating
• Chills and shivering
• Nausea and vomiting
• Pain in stomach
• Abdominal cramps
• Loss of appetite
• Lethargy, fatigue and weakness
• Inability to concentrate

Treatment Options

The treatment will depend on the cause of fever. This symptom can lead to various complications if not dealt with on a priority basis. Firstly, the cause of fever will have to be correctly diagnosed. Normally, a blood test or a urine test for the specific microorganism suffices to check for that condition, for example, a Widal test for typhoid helps in reaching a confirmed diagnosis of typhoid. So, once the diagnosis has been confirmed, the treatment for the condition is given. Normally for recurring fever, only anti-pyretics will not suffice as there is mostly a need for systemic treatment in such cases. Hence, administration of antibiotics is almost always done in cases of recurring fever. Depending on the severity of the disease, the antibiotics can be administered in oral or intravenous form.

Thus, this is a serious symptom that needs to be dealt with. More often than not, the cause of it can be diagnosed easily with the help a detailed history of the patient. Mostly, if the patient says that he has recently been to a tropical country then there are high chances that it could be malaria or typhoid, as these diseases are endemic in most tropical countries. This is helpful because then the treatment can be initiated immediately, rather than waiting for the blood report. However, only after a detailed analysis of the blood report, should the doctor reach a final diagnosis and chalk out a treatment plan which should be implemented immediately.