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Abstract

Typhoid fever is a uniquely human systemic infection caused primarily by Salmonella typhi (a few other strains of Salmonella also can cause typhoid fever or enteric fever). A protracted, debilitating febrile illness characterizes the clinical course in untreated patients. The mental cloudiness or stupor associated with this type of chronic illness accounts for the name typhoid, meaning stuporlike. The disease is acquired by ingestion of food or water that has been contaminated by a human who has acute disease, is recently convalescent, or is an asymptomatic chronic fecal shedder of typhoid bacilli. In areas of the world where safe water supplies and good sewage control are not available, typhoid fever remains an endemic disease. The disease is no longer common in the United States; this low prevalence has created a potential public-health problem, i.e., a large population that has become highly susceptible to infection.

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Suggested Reading

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© 1982 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Hornick, R.B. (1982). Typhoid Fever. In: Evans, A.S., Feldman, H.A. (eds) Bacterial Infections of Humans. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1140-0_36

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-1140-0_36

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