study on cases admitted as fever of unknown origin to Alexandria hospital [1993]

The aim of the present study was to reveal some epidemiological features of cases recorded as fever of unknown origin on admission to the hospital and to study their clinical manifestations and the received medical care. Moreover, the relation between the presenting complaints and final diagnosis among the studied cases was studied. Sheets of all cases recorded as fever of unknown origin on admission to the hospital during the period from January 1st, 1993 to the end of April 1993 were included in the study [663 cases]. The results revealed that the mean age of the total sample was 25.95 + 17.821 years with slight male predominance [1.07: 1]. Infections topped the list of causes of fever of unknown origin [94.1%], especially respiratory infection. Gastrointestinal infections, especially enteric fever, ranked the second followed by urinary tract infections. Noninfectious causes accounted for 3.8% of the cases and the cause of fever could not be determined in 2.2% of cases. The main complaints proved to have low validity in diagnosing cases. Surprisingly, only 18 cases from the total sample was found to be coincide with the stated standard definition of FUO. Many patients are placed in the FUO category because the attending physicians overlook, disregard of reject an obvious clue