if the fever has lasted longer than 3 weeks

Last reviewed 01/2018

A lot of the bacterial and viral causes are removed from the list. The differential diagnosis consists of:

Malignant disease:

  • lymphoma
  • liver or CNS metastases
  • hypernephroma
  • pancreatic carcinoma
  • pre-leukaemia e.g. myelodysplasia
  • atrial myxoma

Infection:

  • tuberculosis
  • abscesses:
    • abdominal
    • brain
    • teeth
    • bone & prostheses
  • endocarditis - may need to culture for 21 days to detect slow-growing bacteria
  • HIV
  • CMV/EBV
  • toxoplasmosis
  • listeria
  • Q fever
  • cryptococcus

Vasculitides

Miscellaneous: drug-induced, cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis, sarcoid, pulmonary embolism, Crohns, familial mediterannean fever.