Afebrile
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Afebrile refers to a condition without fever. Some diseases naturally occur without fever due to the absence of substances that disrupt the body's heat regulation, while infections typically produce substances affecting temperature centers. However, even infections that usually cause fever may sometimes occur afebrile, particularly in patients with significantly reduced resistance and reactivity, such as the elderly and exhausted. Afebrile conditions where fever would be expected are generally considered unfavorable prognostic signs, with higher mortality rates.
Encyclopedia article (1928–1936)
Afebrile (from Greek a- negative particle and Latin febris-fever), without fever. Some diseases by their very nature proceed without fever, since in them no substances are formed that disrupt the body's heat economy, while others, to which mainly infections belong, are accompanied by the production in the body of substances acting on the heat centers. But sometimes even infections, usually accompanied by fever, proceed afebrile. This is observed most often in cases of significant decrease in the body's resistance and its reactivity (old, exhausted patients), since fever is nothing other than the body's reaction. More often, however, the disease proceeds in such cases subfebrile, i.e., with a slight increase in temperature. In other, rarer cases, as for example in cholera, due to the peculiarities of the poison, even subnormal temperatures are observed in strong people. Afebrility where a significant increase in temperature would be expected is rather an unfavorable symptom: the percentage of mortality in such cases is usually higher.
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“Afebrile.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/afebrile/