defervescence
/ˌdɪfəˈvɛs(ə)ns
/noun [mass noun] Medicine
The abatement of a fever as indicated by a decrease in bodily temperature.The recurrence of fever after an initial defervescence suggests a septic or nonseptic embolic event, a drug hypersensitivity reaction or the emergence of a resistant strain....
- At the end of this phase defervescence occurs and the patient is usually afebrile for a day or two before the immune phase begins.
- During this time the vast majority of patients show clinical improvement, including defervescence, reduced cough, and weight gain.
Derivatives
defervesce
- The patients who took longer than 48 hours to defervesce were clinically similar to those whose fevers responded faster to therapy.
- The patient defervesced and continued to receive red cell and platelet support.
- Several days after the onset, the patient will defervesce, with gradual neurological improvement over several days.
Origin
Early 18th century: from Latin defervescent- 'ceasing to boil', from the verb defervescere.