It is a common infectious disease with high morbidity and mortality rates in low- to middle-income countries in Asia, Africa, and South America, associated with limited proper sanitation and safe drinking water supply. Children and young adults are more commonly affected. Among travelers, enteric fever is more common in adults after a visit to endemic areas.
Typhoid fever is an acute, life-threatening, febrile illness. Without treatment, the case fatality rate of typhoid fever is 10–30%, dropping to 1–4% with appropriate therapy. Young children are at greatest risk.
Typhoid may be spread from person to-person by direct contact, or through ingestion of contaminated food or water. Infection becomes apparent after an incubation period of 10-14 days.
Typhoid fever has a wide variety of presentations that range from an overwhelming multisystemic illness to relatively minor cases of diarrhea with low-grade fever. Common symptoms include sustained fever, chills and abdominal pain. The non-specific symptom profile complicates clinical diagnosis, with symptoms that are common to other diseases occurring in typhoid-endemic areas.
Abdominal pain is diffuse and poorly localized but occasionally intense in the right iliac fossa, mimicking appendicitis. Patients may also have headache, cough, and malaise.
Enteric fever
