Study of cases of fever of unknown origin in Damanhur Fever Hospital

Background
Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is a syndrome that has long tested the skills of physicians to achieve a diagnosis in affected patients. Patients included in this syndrome will be more difficult to diagnose as they have already resisted classification during baseline investigations.


Aim
To study the characteristics of cases of FUO attending Damanhur Fever Hospital and to explore the different diagnostic types of fever among them.


Patients and methods
The present study is an observational analytical hospital-based cross-sectional study. This study was carried out on 70 patients more than or equal to 18 years old who met the criteria of Durack and Street for classic FUO. All participants were subjected to a questionnaire that included data about their sociodemographic characteristics, and smoking and alcohol consumption, in addition to a complete history taking and the results of routine laboratory and image investigation.


Results
Mean age of the patients was 33.32 with 10.82 standard deviation (sd) and range 18–58 years. Males accounted for 65.7% of the patients, and 75.7% of them were residing rural area and 41.7% were farmers. Most of the patients (74.3%) were smokers, whereas the majority (94.3%) were nonalcoholics. Infectious diseases accounted for 82.9% of the diagnosis of FUO, whereas 7.1% of the patients were diagnosed as having noninfectious inflammatory diseases, and 10% of them presented with neoplasm. Brucellosis was found among 24.3% of the patients, whereas arthritis and rheumatic fever accounted for 2.9% of the patient for each, and leukemia was found among 5.7% of them.


Conclusion
The main characteristics of the patients represented with FUO were middle age males who were residing in rural area, worked as farmers, and were smokers and nonalcoholics. Infectious diseases were the main cause of FUO, and brucellosis was the commonest cause of infectious type of FUO.