Clinical, serological, microbiological, and outcome study of 200 cases of short duration fever without prior exposure to antibiotic

Background : Short duration fever is a very common presenting symptom of infections which are mostly self-limiting and do not require any antibiotics. Most of these patients presenting to primary care centers are exhibited antibiotics irrationally without any investigation results. Antibiotics are not a panacea for all fevers. This title was chosen to discourage the usual practice of indiscriminate use of antibiotics in short duration self-limiting fevers, increasing emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria. This study was conceived and designed after The Lancet in 2010 reported the emergence of resistant New Delhi strain of metallo-beta-lactamase 1 Gram-negative Enterobacteriaceae from India, Pakistan, and the UK due to irrational use of antibiotics. Moreover, there are very scanty literature reports on "Short duration Fevers." This study is likely to advocate rational scientific approach to the management of short duration fever. Objectives: This study was conducted to (a) arrive at a definite diagnosis and formulate various etiologies of short duration fever in this tertiary care hospital, (b) rational use of specific antibodies when indicated, and (c) study the outcome of therapy. Materials and Methods: This was an observational cross-sectional study comprising 200 fresh consecutive inpatients of fever of