[Clinical course of typhoid in the Heidelberg region (author's transl)]

In the course of a typhoid epidemic during the autumn of 1974 in the Heidelberg region 74 persons were treated in hospital. Chloramphenicol was give to 45, ampicillin to 19. The former, in daily doses of 2.0 g, gave worse results if given for only two instead of three weeks. In comparison, ampicillin was less effective. A second course of treatment became necessary in 13 patients, with trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (Bactrim) being succesful in all, although the follow-up period is still too short for definitive results. Three complications occurred: one case of massive bleeding from the gut requiring operation and followed some weeks later by a HBS-antigen-negative hepatitis; one case of typhoma (several weeks after the end of antibiotic treatment), requiring operative removal; a case of febrile abortion in the second month of pregnancy.