Typhoid fever in hospitalized children in Singapore

A study was conducted to determine the clinical features and severity of typhoid fever in children admitted to the Communicable Disease Centre, Singapore. Over a 5 year period (1990-94), 40 children had documented culture-proven typhoid fever. Nine of the 40 children (22.5%) were below the age of 5 years. The predominant presenting symptoms were fever and diarrhoea. Pneumonia and ileus were the only complications observed. No patient in the series died. Ten Salmonella typhi isolates were multi-drug resistant. The majority of the children were treated with chloramphenicol and ceftriaxone. Typhoid fever appears to be a mild disease in Singapore children.