Current epidemiology of infections in neutropenic cancer patients Winfried V Kern

Fever is the most frequent – sometimes the only – sign of infection subsequent to neutropenia. Most epidemiologic studies have focused on fever episodes and have evaluated their causes and outcome. A rough approximation of fever incidence rates according to the duration of neutropenia is shown in Figure 4.1. Severe infections may sometimes develop without fever. Conversely, fever may not always result from infection, and may remain unexplained.