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Revised definition of 'fever of unknown origin': limitations and opportunities
Onder Ergönül1, Ayşe Willke, Alpay Azap
1Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. oergonul@hotmail.com
Aim:
The limitations and opportunities of revised definition of fevers of unknown origin (FUO) in comparison to conventional definition were investigated, and prehospital characteristics of the patients were detailed.
Method:
The patients were grouped according to both revised and classic definitions of FUO.
Results:
Fifty-nine of the 80 patients (74%) met the conventional definition of FUO. Before their admissions, all patients had at least one course of antibiotic therapy. The aetiology was infectious in 52%, autoimmune in 19%, and neoplastic in 17%. In 12% of the cases, the reason for high fever could not be explained. The most common infectious aetiologies were various forms of tuberculosis (12%), brucellosis (12%), salmonella (7%) and malaria (5%). The revised definition inflated the rate of infectious aetiology.
Conclusion:
A standardized set of diagnostic tools used in this study was suggested. The subjects of FUO series have to be screened for endemic infections.
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