[Why do patients in intensive care get fever? Infection specialists should undertake studies]

In a study of the frequency and causes of fever at an intensive care unit, we found 61 per cent of the patients to have had above normal temperatures on one or more occasions. The cause was infection in less than half of cases, surgery and trauma being the cause in the remainder. The leukocyte count could not be used for the diagnosis of bacterial infections. Respiratory tract infections, abdominal infections and septicaemia were the commonest types of infection.