Typhoid fever is contracted by drinking or eating the bacteria in contaminated food or water. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.org," "Mayo Clinic Healthy Living," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Typhoid fever is an acute illness associated with fever caused by the Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi bacteria. The choice of antibiotics is guided by identifying the geographic region where the infection was contracted (certain strains from South America show a significant resistance to some antibiotics.) © 1998-2020 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). It can also be caused by Salmonella paratyphi, a related bacterium that usually causes a less severe illness. Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below.
If your symptoms are severe, go to an emergency room or call 911 or your local emergency number.Here's some information to help you get ready and know what to expect from your doctor.For typhoid fever, possible questions to ask your doctor include:Don't hesitate to ask any other related questions you have.Your doctor is likely to ask you a number of questions. Treatment of typhoid in children . If you have been treated take all of your prescribed antibiotics, wash your hands, and have doctor perform stool cultures. Worldwide, typhoid fever affects more than 21 million people annually, with about 200,000 people dying from the disease.Typhoid fever is contracted by drinking or eating the bacteria in contaminated food or water.
Mentioned below are some ways in which typhoid in children is treated: Antibiotics are recommended which will help in killing the Salmonella Typhi bacteria. People with acute illness can contaminate the surrounding water supply through stool, which contains a high concentration of the bacteria. Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria. A bone marrow culture often is the most sensitive test for Salmonella typhi.Although performing a culture test is the mainstay for diagnosis, in some instances other testing may be used to confirm a suspected typhoid fever infection, such as a test to detect antibodies to typhoid bacteria in your blood or a test that checks for typhoid DNA in your blood.Antibiotic therapy is the only effective treatment for typhoid fever.These drugs can cause side effects, and long-term use can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.In the past, the drug of choice was chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol was the original drug of choice for many years. People with acute illness can contaminate the surrounding water supply through stool, w… The culture is checked under a microscope for the presence of typhoid bacteria. Your doctor may ask:Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Contamination of the water supply can, in turn, taint the food supply.
Your doctor is likely to suspect typhoid fever based on your symptoms and your medical and travel history.
But the diagnosis is usually confirmed by identifying Salmonella typhi in a culture of your blood or other body fluid or tissue.For the culture, a small sample of your blood, stool, urine or bone marrow is placed on a special medium that encourages the growth of bacteria. Symptoms of typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever include stomach pains, headache, or loss of appetite. If relapses occur, patients are retreated with antibiotics.Those who become chronically ill (about 3%-5% of those infected), can be treated with prolonged antibiotics.
The incidence of typhoid fever in the United States has markedly decreased since the early 1900s, when tens of thousands of cases were reported in the U.S. Today, less than 400 cases are reported annually in the United States, mostly in people who have recently traveled to Mexico and South America. These people may become long-term carriers of the bacteria -- even though they have no symptoms -- and be the source of new outbreaks of typhoid fever for many years.After the ingestion of contaminated food or water, the The incubation period is usually 1-2 weeks, and the duration of the illness is about 3-4 weeks.
Doctors no longer commonly use it, however, because of side effects, a high rate of health deterioration after a period of improvement (relapse) and widespread bacterial resistance.In fact, the existence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing problem in the treatment of typhoid fever, especially in the developing world. Others suffer a very mild illness that goes unrecognized. Often, removal of the gallbladder, the site of chronic infection, will provide a cure.WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.