Fever, anorexia and forestomach hypomotility in ruminants.

Acute febrile diseases are characterized by specific and non-specific symptoms. The non-specific responses include among other signs fever, dullness, anorexia and changes in gastric function. It is the purpose of this review to describe present concepts of fever and the associated reactions produced by bacterial pyrogens and the mechanisms of those reactions. The available data indicate that interleukin-1 is a key mediator of host responses to bacterial infections. However, many questions have not yet been clearly answered. In particular, more detailed studies of the processes within the CNS responsible for anorexia are still required.