Forstner C, Patchev V, Rohde G, et al. - Researchers sought to determine the proportion of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and afebrile bacteremia and investigated the clinical characteristics prophesying the necessity for blood cultures (BCs) in afebrile patients. They assessed 4,349 CAP patients enrolled in the multi-national cohort study CAPNETZ and identified bacteremic pneumonia in 190 of 2,116 (8.9%) febrile patients, 101 of 2,149 (4.7%) afebrile patients and 1 of 23 (4.3%) hypothermic patients. This indicated the presence of a relevant proportion of patients with afebrile bacteremia. Relative to patients with febrile bacteremia or non-bacteremic pneumonia, patients with afebrile bacteremia had an increased mortality rate. Therefore, they suggest considering the relevance of fever as an indicator for BC necessity.