Acetaminophen for febrile patients with suspected infection: potential benefit and further directions

Fever, increased body temperature, is a physiological expression of the host’s response to an infective (1) or non-infective pathology (2-6). Non-infective fever is common in critically ill patients, which includes ones related with post-surgical reaction, acute myocardial infarction, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, acute pancreatitis, malignant tumor, post-transfusion reaction, transplant rejection and drug fever. Fever is also common in infective patients. In multicenter observational study, among the patients who developed body temperature equal or more than 38.5 ℃, approximately 63% of patients were diagnosed as sepsis (7).