[3] The cause is currently unknown although speculation centers on host immune response – particularly the cyclical release of cytokines, lymph node necrosis, and damaged stromal cells.
To count as Pel-Ebstein fever diagnostic workup for Hodgkin's lymphoma would be required as well if that diagnosis was not already made.
[2] The condition is named after Wilhelm Ebstein and P. K. Pel who both published papers in 1887 noting the phenomenon.
[citation needed] Researchers have speculated whether this condition truly exists, since some authorities anecdotally estimate only a 5–10% occurrence rate.
[3] In his Lettsomian Lecture Making Sense, delivered to the Medical Society of London in 1959, Richard Asher refers to Pel–Ebstein fever as an example of a condition that exists only because it has a name.