Typhoid: clinical picture and response to chloramphenicol. Prospective study in Bombay (1972)

The clinical picture of 78 cases with proven typhoid and 18 cases with proven paratyphoid A fever is presented. The diagnosis was made by isolating the organisms from the blood. The Widal test could not be used as a diagnostic criterion. By means of chemotherapy with chloramphenicol (initial dose 30-40 mg/kg body weight) defervescence was achieved within an average of 4.5 days. The course of the disease was generally mild; one patient with typhoid fever died. The average hospital stay was 19 days. Four patients of the typhoid fever group were readmitted with a relapse. The laboratory examinations included blood clot culture, phage typing, Widal test, haemoglobin, leucocyte count, transaminases, serum bilirubin, and routine examination and culture of stool and urine. Forty-two patients were infected with intestinal parasites and 25 with Shigella organism. The findings are discussed and compared with findings of similar studies of enteric fever.