Drug Fever: A Patient Case Scenario and Review of the Evidence

Drug fever is a rare but serious adverse reaction that can occur with the administration of a wide range of medications in broad patient populations. The purpose of this article is to give critical care clinicians a brief overview of drug fever and its causes, how to identify its presence, and what steps to take if a case of suspected drug fever occurs. Diagnosis of drug fever can be challenging because of its low incidence and the presence of conflicting information about its characteristics. For these reasons, identification and appropriate management are often delayed. However, the prompt and accurate diagnosis of drug fever is important for patients’ clinical status as well as for reducing hospital length of stay and unnecessary and possibly harmful escalation of care (eg, additional laboratory and diagnostic examinations, antibiotics, antipyretics, and other cooling modalities).¹ 

A 36-year-old woman presented to the hospital for a scheduled surgical...