ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the various disorders that may present as fever associated with musculoskeletal signs and symptoms. Most frequent are occult bone infections whose diagnosis is greatly assisted by radionuclide studies and in the future by Magnetic resonance imaging. Pain and/or stiffness of joints, paraarticular structures, muscles, and tendons are in some cases the unique symptoms associated with unexplained fever (UEF). Osteomyelitis continues to be a nonexceptional cause of UEF because of the difficulties of its early diagnosis as well as of its polymorphism. The search of rheumatoid nodules in the olecrane bursa and along the shaft of the ulna must then be carefully undertaken. The biopsy confirms the diagnosis, showing swollen fascias with a collagen hypertrophy and a prominent infiltration of mononuclear cells and sometimes of eosinophils. Lyme disease is characterized by erythema chronicum migrans occurring after a tick bite, sometimes accompanied by headache, stiff neck, myalgias, arthralgias, lymphadenopathy, fatigue, and fever.
