In the single passage (Acts 28:8) in which the word occurs, it is associated with dysentery (q.v. [Note: quod vide, which see.] ). Fever is a rise in bodily temperature above the normal of 98.4° F. It may be caused by physiological conditions-a mechanical interference with the nervous system which prevents heat-elimination, as in sunstroke. It is also a symptom of the reaction of the body to infection by micro-organisms or other poisons by which the heat-regulation apparatus is disturbed. The effects of this are evident in further derangements in the digestive glands, the liver and kidneys, the alimentary canal, the nervous organism, and the blood. The name is given to many diseases of which fever is the leading symptom, as e.g. typhoid fever. At a time when it was not possible to explain diseases by reference to a single cause, it was very natural to describe the derangement by two or more of the principal symptoms, as in the instance under consideration.
C. A. Beckwith.