A rare cause of fever of unknown origin - cervical spinal cord lesion

• Published in: Chinese medical journal Vol. 127; no. 19; pp. 3517 - 3518
• Main Authors: Ge, Ying, Li, Taisheng, Liu, Zhengyin, Liu, Mingsheng, Guan, Hongzhi, Chen, Lin, Tian, Ye, Zhuang, Qianyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: China Department of Infectious Disease, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Peking Union Medical College 2014
• Subjects: Female; Fever of Unknown Origin - diagnosis; Fever of Unknown Origin - etiology; Humans; Middle Aged; Spinal Cord Diseases - complications; Spinal Cord Diseases - diagnosis; 医学院; 原因; 发热; 日常工作; 爬楼梯; 脊髓损伤; 食欲不振; 黑钙土; @@
• ISSN: 0366-6999; 2542-5641
• DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.0366-6999.20140273

To the editor： A female at Beijing Union 2013. She had had ＂malaise a month with fever.＂ Since patient, aged 49, visited the emergency Medical College Hospital on August 21, for five years, aggravated for more than early 2008, the patient had whole body fatigue without a cause, but it was not affecting her daily work. As the symptoms gradually worsened, she became incapable of daily chores and had difficulty climbing stairs to the second floor. Two years ago, she resigned from work to rest at home, but the symptoms of fatigue aggravatedand she was reluctant to get out of bed. One month ago, the patient accidentally fell from her bed due to fatigue and she was only able to get up with help from family. Since then, the patient started to have fever （self-measured temperatures up to 38-39~C） and dizziness. Self-prescribed antipyretic drugs did not have an effect on reducing the fever. She did not sweat, but her body temperature decreased slightly atter a warm sponge bath. She could not walk. comb her hair, or go to the bathroom by herself. She had intermittent palpitations, dizziness, and loss of appetite, with normal urine and bowel movements, and no other discomfort. On August 20, 2013. the patient＇s temperature increased to 41.6℃, she then came to our hospital emergency room for further treatment.