Fever: Its History, Cause, and Function

Concepts of fever from Hippocrates to the present are briefly outlined and compared with current ideas of the pathogenesis of fever. Evidence is presented that endogenous pyrogen, the hormone that elevates body temperature, is identical with lymphocyte-activating factor, a monokine that stimulates lymphocyte proliferation and function. It now appears that inflammation and fever are closely interrelated phenomena that are modulated by a single hormone and that have been selected by evolution to protect the host against infection.