How Fever Panels Can Help You Figure Out Why You Have a Fever

When the body temperature rises above average, the immune system works hard to fight off an infection. Fever can be a disease in and of itself or a sign of another illness. Side effects of some medicines or vaccines can also cause frequent fevers. If you have a fever that won’t go away and other symptoms that go along, your doctor may suggest a fever panel test to find the real reason and give you the best treatment. Blood, urine, and nose swab tests are part of this test to determine why the fever occurs.

Signs and symptoms of fever

Different people can have different fever symptoms, but here are some of the most usual ones:

– Body warmth that is too high

– Chills

—Heating up

– Headaches

– Aches in muscles

– Tiredness

– Weakness

Why thorough testing is useful

A fever panel test checks for many things in your blood and pee. These tests are part of it:

Complete Blood Count (CBC): This test gives a general idea of a person’s disease state and overall health. It can also be used to find blood cancers when there are too many or too few specific blood cells. These are the factors that make up this test:

Red Blood Cell Count (RBC): This test counts the amount of red blood cells in the body. Red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of the body.

White Blood Cell Count (WBC): This test tells you how many white blood cells you have. White blood cells fight off infections and other harmful organisms.

Platelet Count: This test determines the number of platelets needed for blood to clot.

The hematocrit tells you how many red blood cells are in your blood.

It checks the amount of haemoglobin in the blood. Haemoglobin is a protein that moves oxygen and carbon dioxide around the blood.

Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV): This number shows how big red blood cells are on average.

The Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) tells you how much haemoglobin is in a certain amount of red blood cells.

Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW) measures how different red blood cells are in size or volume.

Absolute and percentage differential counts: Find out how many of each type of white blood cell there are in the blood sample.

This complete set of tests helps doctors determine if someone has a significant illness or an infection-related problem so they can treat them quickly and effectively.

How to understand the results

Specifics

Normal amounts of blood

RBC count (Male)

4.7 to 6.1 million cells/mcL

RBC count (Woman)

4.2 to 5.4 million cells/mcL

WBC count

4,500 to 10,000 cells/mcL

Number of platelets

150,000 to 450,000/dL

Hematocrit (a man)

40.7% to 50.3%

Hematocrit (Women)

36.1% to 44.3%

Haemoglobin in men

13.8 to 17.2 g/dL

Haemoglobin for Women

12.1 to 15.1 g/dL

MCV

A femtoliter is 80 to 95

MCHC

32 to 36 g/dL

RDW

12% to 15%

DLC

4000 to 10000 /mcL

MPV

From 7 to 9 femtoliters

Nerve cells

40% to 60%

Lymphocytes

20% to 40%

Single cells

2% to 8%

Eosinophils

1% to 4%

Basophils

0.5% to 1%

Band

3% to 0%

A quantitative test for C-reactive protein (CRP) is used to determine the amount of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. The liver makes CRP when there is inflammation.

How to understand the results

A range of CRP values given in mg/l

Inference

0.5 to 3.0 mg/L

As usual

3–10 mg/L

Normal or a little high

10–100 mg/L

Higher than normal

>100 mg/L

Significantly high

Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR): This test checks the amount of certain proteins in the blood and how they affect the amount of inflammation or infection in the body.

How to understand the results

Specifics

How to Understand

Males younger than 50 years

less than 15 mm/hr

Male over 50

less than 20 mm/hr

Women younger than 50

less than 20 mm/hr

>50 years old woman

less than 30 mm/hr

Baby born

0 to 2 mm/hr

From birth to puberty

3 to 13 mm/hr

An antinuclear antibody (ANA) test can find antibodies that stick to the nucleus of cells. The immune system makes these antibodies, which link to and attack the body’s tissues by mistake.

How to understand the results

Specifics

How to Understand

Good news

Antibodies against nuclei can be found in the blood sample.

Not good

The blood did not have any antinuclear antibodies in it.

Complete Urine Examination: This test checks to see if there are any strange chemicals in the urine. By measuring the amounts of these substances in the body, it is easy to find several diseases. Bacteria, blood cells, pus cells, epithelium cells, bilirubin, and other things in the urine can damage the kidneys or make them infected.

How to understand the results

Specifics

How to Understand

Good news

The pee sample had strange things, like blood, bacteria, and other things.

Not good

No strange chemicals were found in the urine sample.

Tuberculin Skin Test: This test checks to see if the germs Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis (TB), are present in the body. People get tuberculin fluid shot into the inner part of their lower arm. After 48 to 72 hours, the body’s response is checked.

How to understand the results

Specifics

How to Understand

Good news

Bacteria that cause tuberculosis are present.

Not good

Lack of the bacteria that cause tuberculosis.

Interleukin-6: This test checks how much interleukin-6 (IL-6) is in the blood. Inflammation, illness, and tissue damage all cause the body to make IL-6, an endogenous cytokine. This test can detect autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

How to understand the results

The normal value for the parameter

How to Understand

less than seven picograms per milliliter

If the value is higher, the person has an inflammatory disease.

Lower value: Confirms the presence of a less severe inflammatory reaction.

Finding it early

The fever panel test helps doctors determine what is causing a fever, which is a typical sign of many illnesses. Early discovery lets doctors quickly find the infection and treat it with broad-spectrum antibiotics, which helps the person get better faster.

Monitoring and taking care of fevers

The results of the fever panel help doctors figure out what’s causing the fever and treat the person in the best way possible. Because fever symptoms can be signs of more than one illness, the test results give doctors a complete picture of the patient’s health, which helps them make quick, well-informed clinical choices. The accuracy of these results also makes it easier to handle and keep an eye on the treatment. Patients can have better results if they are constantly monitored and receive care when needed.

In conclusion

A fever panel test is an important medical tool that helps doctors determine why someone has a fever. The tests in the panel help doctors determine what kind of illness someone has and ensure that the real cause of the fever is treated. When doctors make an early and correct diagnosis, they can start treatment right away, which could improve the patient’s outcome.