Typhoid fever
A bacterial infection spreading throughout the body, affecting many organs, is Typhoid fever, caused by Salmonella typhi, which is a bacterium that causes food poisoning. Without proper treatment, it can lead to severe complications.
Symptoms
The main symptoms of typhoid fever are:
- A persistent high temperature that increases every day
- Headache
- Body pains
- Fatigue
- Cough
- Constipation
As the infection advances, you lose your appetite, feel sick, and have stomach pain and diarrhea. Some people may also develop a rash.
Treatments
Typhoid fever requires immediate treatment with antibiotics.
If typhoid fever is analyzed early, the infection will likely be mild and can be dealt with a seven to fourteen-day course of antibiotic tablets.
Severe typhoid fever demands admission to the hospital to get antibiotic injections.
With immediate antibiotic treatment, most people will begin to feel better within a few days, and profound intricacies are very occasional.
Causes
A dangerous bacteria called Salmonella typhi causes Typhoid fever.
People pick up typhoid bacteria while they’re traveling. Once infected, they spread it to others through the fecal-oral route; this means that Salmonella typhi passes in infected people’s feces and urine. This bacterium is contagious.
Complications
If the infection remains untreated, it can cause serious complications such as:
- Intestinal bleeding or holes in the intestines
- Inflammation in the heart muscle (myocarditis)
- Pneumonia
- Rash on the lining of the heart and valves (endocarditis)
- Infection of blood vessels (mycotic aneurysm)
- Pancreatitis
- Kidney infections
- Meningitis
Reviewed by – Dr. Priyanka, MBBS MD Microbiology
Page last reviewed: 04 October 2022