I know of no pathogen that causes a 4-day cycle of variations in body
temperature and blood pressure, and variations in blood pressure and body
temperature are not necessarily abnormal. Virtually all of our metabolic
processes display circadian rhythms in which they vary on a daily basis.
For example, your body temperature is lowest when you awake, it warms as you
begin to move around, and then fluctuates slightly (a degree or so)
throughout the day. Thus, what you describe doesn't seem to be abnormal.
In regard to your reference to malaria, most species of malaria that infect
humans are tertian, meaning they have paroxysms every 48 hours (or so) ---
so they're actually "two day cycles." Nevertheless, there is one species
that is quarten, meaning they have paroxysms every 72 hours (a "three day
cycle"). The reason for this confusing use of tertian and quarten is that,
historically, the first day of a malaria "attack" (paroxysm) was day 1, so
48 hr later was day 3 (tertian) and 72 hr later was day 4 (quarten).
--
***************************************
Dr. Peter W. Pappas
Department of EEOB
The Ohio State University
1735 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
Phone: 614-292-2746
FAX: 614-292-2030
e-mail: pappas.3 at osu.edu
***************************************
Russell Farris <tryggvi at email.msn.com> wrote in message
news:OwOq$u5K$GA.381 at cpmsnbbsa05...
> I have read that malaria causes one's temperature to vary over a
> three-day cycle. My temperature varies about 1.5 degrees F on a four-day
> cycle. My blood pressure varies on the same cycle. Is there any known
> pathogen that causes temperature and/or BP to vary on a four-day cycle?
>> Is there a technical term for these variations? I haven't had much
> luck finding anything in PubMed so far. Thanks.
>> Russ Farris
>>
