Biomarkers of fever: from bench to bedside

Abstract

This thesis aims to study biomarkers in inflammation and infection, with a special focus on the distinction between infectious and non-infectious fever. The thesis consists of three parts, part I being this introduction, in which the concept of fever in infectious and non-infectious disease is discussed. Furthermore, in this part we provide an overview of the epidemiology of febrile disease, as studied both in a general hospital in the Netherlands and in a general hospital in Curaçao. Also, a review of current literature on biological markers in non-infectious fever is given. Part II describes our clinical studies with focus on biomarkers in different cohorts of patients with infectious and non-infectious fever. In part III, we summarize the findings of this thesis and discuss future research.