Treatment of chronic enteric fever with amoxicillin

Twelve patients with proven Salmonella typhi or Salmonella paratyphi A bacteriuria and recurrent bacteremia associated with schistosomiasis were treated for four weeks with amoxicillin (250 mg four times daily). Seven of the 12 patients were seriously ill and febrile before treatment. They showed a dramatic response, and, within three to six days of initiation of amoxicillin therapy, they were afebrile and much improved clinically. Amoxicillin was rapidly and highly concentrated in the urine of all patients; peak levels of 115-2,700 mug/ml were obtained within 2-4 hr of the first dose. Concentration of the drug in serum was also rapid and in all but two patients exceeded the minimal inhibitory concentration of the organism within 4 hr of the first dose. Within one week after treatment started, all urine and blood specimens obtained from the patients became negative for Salmonella and remained so throughout the four-week follow-up period, during which the patients were hospitalized.