Causes of fever and abdominal pain | Abdominal pain and fever

Causes of fever and abdominal pain

Causes for the common occurrence of abdominal pain and fever can be very diverse. The simplest form of the common occurrence is a viral infection, which causes an increase in body temperature and can be accompanied by abdominal pain. An appendicitis is very often associated with complaints in the abdominal tract.

Typical symptoms are abdominal pain, flatulence, nausea and vomiting. In addition, if the course of the disease is fulminant, it can even lead to an acute abdomen, which is an internal medical emergency. However, since the symptoms often do not occur together and often occur very acutely, the diagnosis is not easy to make.

A decisive indication for the doctor, however, is the addition of a fever attack. In this case the complex of symptoms consisting of abdominal pain and fever can be an indication of appendicitis (inflammation of the appendix). In this case, the decisive factor in making a diagnosis is that the fever only occurs after the abdominal pain.

This difference contributes to the differential diagnosis of bacterial or viral infections. Here, the fever typically develops before the onset of abdominal pain. Appendicitis also occurs more frequently in children (peaks between 10 and 20 years of age) than in adults.

The symptoms often start in the middle of the abdomen or the lower left side of the abdomen and then migrate towards the lower right side of the abdomen. The ingestion of spoiled food (e.g. seafood) can also lead to a combined occurrence of abdominal pain and fever. In addition, the combined occurrence is typical in an acute flare of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (CED).

The two clinical pictures of CED are Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In addition to massive abdominal pain and a rapid rise in fever, severe episodes of diarrhoea and vomiting may occur. and Ulcerative colitis Theoretically, it is also possible to develop combined symptoms of abdominal pain and fever when the gastrointestinal tract is parasitically affected.

The fever development here is often based on a strong reaction of the immune system to the pathogens. The combined occurrence of postoperative wound complications is also conceivable. In this case a surgical wound can become inflamed and cause abdominal pain.

If the pathogens spread into the peritoneum, a fulminant, very painful peritonitis can develop. If bacterial pathogens enter the bloodstream via the wound, they can trigger a fever attack by releasing exo- and endotoxins. Celiac disease (gluten-sensitive enteropathy) is a disease that is becoming increasingly prevalent.

Gluten-sensitive enteropathy is now considered a “widespread disease” and affects about 1% of the population. Here, a certain protein fragment of wheat products (gliadin) causes an autoimmunogenic reaction in the gastrointestinal mucosa with consecutive abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Fever can also occur in acute cases.