Definitions

• Temperature: The hypothalamic thermoregulatory center balances excess heat production from metabolic activity in muscle and liver with heat dissipation from the skin and lungs to maintain a normal body temperature of 36.8° ± 0.4°C (98.2° ± 0.7°F), with diurnal variation (lower in a.m., higher in p.m.).
• Fever: an elevation of body temperature (>37.2°C/98.9°F in the morning and >37.7°C/99.9°F in the evening) in conjunction with an increase in the hypothalamic set point
• Fever of unknown origin (FUO): temperatures >38.3°C (>101°F) on two or more occasions and an illness duration of ≥3 weeks, with no known immunocompromised state and unrevealing laboratory and radiologic investigations into the cause
• Hyperpyrexia: temperatures >41.5°C (>106.7°F) that can occur with severe infections but more commonly occur with CNS hemorrhages
• Hyperthermia: an uncontrolled increase in body temperature that exceeds the body's ability to lose heat without a change in the hypothalamic set point. Hyperthermia does not involve pyrogenic molecules.
• Pyrogen: any fever-causing substance, including exogenous pyrogens (e.g., microbial toxins, lipopolysaccharide, superantigens) and pyrogenic cytokines (e.g., IL-1, IL-6, TNF)