science

Intermittent fever

Intermittent fever is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Intermittent fever rather than just read about it. In short: Intermittent fever is a type or pattern of fever in which there is an interval where temperature is elevated for several hours followed by an interval when temperature drops back to normal. This type of fever usually occurs during the course of an infectious disease.

Key takeaways

Intermittent fever belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Intermittent fever to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Intermittent fever from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Intermittent fever is a type or pattern of fever in which there is an interval where temperature is elevated for several hours followed by an interval when temperature drops back to normal. This type of fever usually occurs during the course of an infectious disease. Diagnosis of intermittent fever is frequently based on the clinical history but some biological tests like complete blood count and blood culture are also used. In addition radiological investigations like chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasonography can also be used in establishing diagnosis.

Intermittent fever in malaria Malaria is a common cause of intermittent fever and it has following types.

Quotidian fever Bouts of fever occurring daily (24-hour periodicity) for a few hours, typical of Plasmodium falciparum.

Tertian fever Fever occurs after an interval of two days (48-hour periodicity), typical of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium ovale.

Quartan fever

Fever occurs after an interval of three days (72-hour periodicity), typical of Plasmodium falciparum.

Examples

Infectious causes of intermittent fever The following are examples of infectious diseases that may feature intermittent fever.

Malaria Tuberculosis Sepsis Kala azar Borreliosis (Lyme disease) Rat-bite fever Epstein-barr virus Chronic meningococcemia.

Inflammatory causes of intermittent fever Adult-onset Still's disease is an inflammatory disease that may cause intermittent fever, characteristically a quotidian fever that spikes once or twice in the late afternoon to evening.

Management Antipyretics like ibuprofen and paracetamol are used for fever and body aches. Antibiotics are also used for any underlying infection. For treating malaria, anti-malarial drugs like quinine, chloroquine and primaquine are given.

See also Continuous fever Relapsing fever Undulant fever Remittent fever Neutropenic fever Cyclic fever; called Pel–Ebstein fever in Hodgkin's lymphoma

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Intermittent fever

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Intermittent fever claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Intermittent fever before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Intermittent fever ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Intermittent fever

In research: Intermittent fever appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Intermittent fever in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Intermittent fever is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fever, Malaria, Tuberculosis, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Intermittent fever outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Intermittent fever in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Intermittent fever means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Intermittent fever out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Intermittent fever in simple terms?

Why does Intermittent fever matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Intermittent fever?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Intermittent fever.