Mystery fever may indicate occult cancer

[emad]

AARHUS, Denmark, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- A Danish researcher says fever of unknown origin might be a marker of occult cancer, according to research published online by The Lancet Oncology.

Fever of unknown origin is characterized by a fever of more than 3 weeks duration, temperatures of more than 101 F and a failure to identify the origin of the fever.

Henrik Toft Sorensen, a professor of clinical epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Demark, and colleagues hypothesize that patients with fever of unknown origin might have a higher risk of cancer than the general population.

To test their theory, they assessed 43,205 patients discharged for the first time from Danish hospitals after treatment for fever of unknown origin 1977-98.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&...

[northzax]

1. makes sense

fever is a biological response to infection, and an occult cancer could represent itself, I guess, as an infection in the early stages. interesting.

I actually had a mysterious fever once, the summer of 1994, age 21, I ran a fever of 102-104 on and off for a month, no other symptoms. I did manage to lose 20 pounds, and spent days at the hospital while they ran every test known to man on me. It was a teaching hospital, and I had interns and residents looking for everything. I was never admitted, but it was kind of freaky. It then developed into a nagging cough that I had for two months. really killed my Crew season that fall. Then it went away. the docs were befuddled.