Understanding New and Severe Abdominal Pain

The most common cause of fever and abdominal pain is viral gastroenteritis, an infection that causes symptoms only for several days in most people. You need to consider other explanations. If your fever and pain are persistent, or if your pain is severe, you should be urgently evaluated by a doctor.

Several serious infections can cause a symptom of diffuse abdominal pain if they spread inflammation into the small amount of fluid that moistens the outside of your abdominal organs. Dangerous infections that can cause diffuse abdominal pain include appendicitis, diverticulitis, or infected ascites (fluid that accumulates beneath the peritoneum in people who have cirrhosis of the liver). A fever and diffuse abdominal pain may also be a sign of life-threatening abdominal contamination due to a hole (perforation) in the stomach or intestines. Usually, a perforation is a complication of a peptic ulcer (open sore in the wall of the stomach or duodenum).