Brain fever describes a medical condition where a part of the brain becomes inflamed and causes symptoms that present as fever

Fever

Fever is a common medical sign characterized by an elevation of temperature above the normal range of due to an increase in the body temperature regulatory set-point. This increase in set-point triggers increased muscle tone and shivering.As a person's temperature increases, there is, in...

. The terminology is dated, and is encountered most often in Victorian literature

Victorian literature

Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria . It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century....

. Conditions that may be described as brain fever include:

• Encephalitis
  Encephalitis
  Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...
  
  , an acute inflammation of the brain, commonly caused by a viral infection.
• Meningitis
  Meningitis
  Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
  
  , the inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

In Arthur Conan Doyle's

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

 Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

 story The Crooked Man

The Adventure of the Crooked Man

"The Adventure of the Crooked Man", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes...

, the term is used to refer to a woman suffering from a state of shock when her husband has been murdered.

See also

• Brain-fever bird (Common Hawk-cuckoo, Cuculus varius), so called from its call