Typhoid Fever

Typhoid fever is also called enteric fever. It is a prospectively, multisystemic illness that has been a public health problem, especially in the developing world. It is caused by Salmonella typhi and Salmonella paratyphi. Enteric fever is a cumulative term that illustrates both typhoid and paratyphoid fever. Paratyphoid is clinically indistinct from typhoid fever; thus, enteric and typhoid fever are used mutually. Typhoid fever is one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in overcrowded and unhygienic areas though comprehensive research and public health interventions have decreased the occurrence. The disease course ranges from early gastrointestinal distress to nonspecific systemic illness but ultimately may lead to multiple complications. Salmonella is said to spread by the 'four Fs" (flies, fingers, feces, fomites). Fever characteristically comes in a step-wise pattern (i.e., rises and falls alternatively) followed by headache and abdominal pain.