[Fever in the neutropenic patient]

The neutropenic patient, whatever the cause of neutropenia (drug related, secondary to marrow involvement by malignant disease or to cytotoxic treatment) is at high risk of bacterial and fungal infection. The first symptom (and often the only one) of infection is fever. The guidelines for management of the febrile neutropenic patient are precise and simple and have been widely accepted for more than 30 years allowing a dramatic decrease of the infectious mortality during episodes of neutropenia.