Typhoid
Definition of Medical Terms:
Antigenic: Ability to produce antibodies
Definition of Typhoid
(Enteric Fever)
SALMONELLA INFECTIONS
are gram-negative bacilli that are classified according their antigenic
composition. Although
several strains of Salmonella affect man, the human strains also affect
animals. A person may be a
“carrier”, having the ability to pass along the disease, without
showing any symptoms of the disease. Symptoms vary according to the type
affecting the patient.
Enteric Fever:
An acute generalized
infection with lymph swelling, fever, slow heart rate, rose- color
eruption, abdominal signs and enlarged spleen.
The source of the infection
is feces or urine from infected people or carriers. About 2 to 5% of the
infected people become chronic carriers of the disease.
In poorly sanitized
communities, water is the most frequent vehicle of transmission; food,
especially milk, is the next most important. In modern urban areas,
food, contaminated by healthy carriers who are food handlers, is the
principal vehicle. Flies
may spread the organism from feces to food.
The organism enters
the body through the mouth, invading the blood stream via the lymph
channels. The incubation
period averages 10 to 14 days. The
onset is usually gradual, with chills, malaise, headache, lack of
appetite, bloody nose, diarrhea (20%), or constipation (50%), and
backache. Bronchitis is present in about 40% of the patients.
Without treatment,
typically the temperature raises daily by steps and reaches its maximum
in 7 to 10 days, maintaining that level for another 1 to 2 weeks, and
then gradually returning to normal by the end of the 4th
week.
Eruptions appear as
rounded, rose colored spots that fade with pressure appear between the 7th
and 10th day, most commonly found on the abdomen and chest.
These “rose spots”
emerge in crops lasting 2 to 5 days before fading away.
Symptoms vary widely. Some
people show signs of sore throats, nausea, vomiting, rigid painful
abdomen, bronchitis, pneumonia, kidney or central nervous system
involvement.
Complications:
Occur in 25 to 30% of all
untreated patients, and account for 60%-75% of all deaths.
Examples of complications
include intestinal hemorrhage, intestinal perforation, and less
frequently, pneumonia, kidney disease and other organ involvement.
Treatment:
Purification of drinking
water, pasteurization of milk, control of chronic carriers to prevent
their handling of food, and complete isolation technique in caring for
patients have been most successful in controlling typhoid.
Typhoid vaccination is
indicated for medical personnel during epidemics.
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