Fever: Historical Perspectives and Evolution of Modern Views

Abstract

The history of our concepts of fever arc briefly reviewed, starting with the Greeks (Hippocrates and the humoral theory) as well as the views presented in the Bible and prevalent throughout the Middle Ages where fever and disease were interpreted as punishment for misbehaviour Later views are presented, based on the rise of science and Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood which produced two rival camps, iatrochemists and iatrophysicists. Next are mentioned the contributions of tissue pathology, experiments defining the role of the CNS in regulating body temperature, the old correlation of fever with inflammation and the discovery of microbial agents of disease and bacterial pyrogens in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Finally, work in the last 30 years is summarized, starting with the discovery of endogenous pyrogen (EP) and the recent finding that EP is probably identical with lymphocyte-activating factor (LAF) and leucocytic endogenous mediator (LEM) which collectively as interleukjn-1 play a major role in both inflammation and immunity.