Causes of low grade fever

Information on Low Grade Fever

Every person has had a fever in some point of life. So, it can be said that it is one of the most common medical conditions of them all. It is medically referred to as the pyrexia or controlled hyperthermia and it is a condition in which the temperature of the human body slightly rises above the usual, normal range.

The human body raises the temperature when diseases or infections occur so it needs to defend itself. Low grade fever fluctuates in most cases, which means that it can rise, but it can also suddenly get decreased.

A fever can be considered to be of low grade if it does not rise above 101 degrees F and in most cases it should not be considered dangerous in any way.

A low grade fever can be triggered by numerous different medical conditions. The human body tries to fight off viruses that cause infections and threaten various mechanisms so it raises the temperature.

Low-grade fever (LGF) is defined as a body temperature between 37.5 and 38.3 degrees C (99.5 - 101 degrees F), which is below the classical value reported for fever of unknown origin (FUO). We attempted to characterize its epidemiology, aetiology and clinical aspects to improve the methodological approach to diagnosis.

We reviewed and evaluated a survey of patients with LGF, followed as outpatients of our Department, a tertiary referral centre from 1997 to 2008. The same classifications were applied for classical FUO, and in the patients diagnosed with LGF, we also investigated for habitual hyperthermia (HH).
Seventy-three patients were selected and divided into two groups: group A included 32 patients classified with organic fever and group B included 41 patients with HH. Aetiology of organic LGF was: infectious disease 59%; neoplasm 3.1%; inflammatory non-infectious disease 6.2%; miscellaneous 18.7%; undiagnosed 12.5%.
Mean age was significantly higher in the organic fever than in the HH group. Splenomegaly and loss of weight were significantly associated with organic fever, while dizziness and general malaise were associated with HH. Lack of any pathological signs at physical examination was significantly more frequent in HH.
Among the biochemical tests, white blood cells and C-reactive protein were more frequently above normal limits in group A than in group B.

✓ Fact confirmed: Low-grade fever: how to distinguish organic from non-organic forms M. Affronti, P. Mansueto, M. Soresi, A. M. Abbene, A. Affronti, M. Valenti, L. Giannitrapani, G. Montalto; 2010 Feb

Among the most common causes of low grade fever are various different types of viral infections. They can be associated with the symptoms of common cold and common cough. The human body raises the temperature in order to fight and kill off different types of harmful fungi, bacteria, parasites or viruses that attack it.

A low grade fever can also be triggered by numerous different types of wound infections. All wounds trigger abrasion at the topmost layer of the skin which makes it easy for numerous toxic substances and organisms to enter the human body which leads to skin reddening, pus, fever and swollen areas.

Another medical condition that can be affiliated with low fever is tuberculosis because it is actually a bacterial type of infections which affects the lungs. It gets triggered by a certain type of bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis. The symptoms of the condition commonly include fever, chronic cough and sometimes even bloody phlegm.

Rubeola or measles is a medical condition that gets triggered by a certain types of virus and it is known for affecting the respiratory tract, lungs, throat and bronchial tubes. It can also be accompanied by some other symptoms such as sore throat, rash and fever and it is very contagious. Mumps is a very contagious viral diseases and it involves swollen pancreas, swollen salivary glands, swollen ovaries and even swollen testicles in some cases.

It can be associated with a low grade fever. A low grade fever can also be affiliated with certain types of allergic reactions. Stress can also trigger a low grade fever.

Other causes include excessive exposure to heat, autoimmune diseases, hormonal imbalances, mononucleosis, hepatitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, typhoid, rheumatoid arthritis, AIDS, sinusitis, chickenpox, and leukemia.