Typhus Fever Symptoms

typhus fever symptoms

Typhus fever is a potentially fatal infection caused by an organism named Salmonella typhosa. It is a common disease in developing countries where there are poor hygiene and sanitation, crowded areas. Typhus fever is transmitted by oral transmission via contaminated food or sewage-contaminated water, and hand-to-mouth transmission with contaminated toilet stuff.

Risk factors

According to Mayo Clinic, there are some risk factors of getting this disease such as:

• Working as a clinical microbiologist that handles Salmonella bacteria
• Having close contact with infected people
• Traveling or working in endemic areas of typhoid fever
• Drinking sewage-contaminated water
• Decreased immune system because of medications such as corticosteroids or HIV/AIDS.

Typhus fever symptoms

The signs and symptoms of typhoid fever may come gradually. They appear 1-3 weeks after exposure with Salmonella typhi. The classic symptoms includes fever, malaise, constipation, and abdominal pain.  These are typhoid fever symptoms by details.

1. Week 1: fever (especially at night, can be as high as 40 C or 103 F), headache, sore throat, diffuse stomachache, diarrhea OR constipation, rash (rose-colored spots in upper abdomen or lower chest, disappear in 4 days), weakness and fatigue.
2. Week 2: if the treatment is not adequate, you will enter the second stage of illness with symptoms such as continuing high fever, severe constipation/diarrhea, distended abdomen (may be caused by intestinal perforation)
3. Week 3: it is the initial time of life-threatening condition and the symptoms are delirious, decreased consciousness, typhoid state (being exhausted with half-closured eyes)
4. Week 4: the fever may decrease gradually in 10 days but the signs and symptoms can happen again to 2 weeks after the fever has subsided.

It is very important for you to see a doctor when you experience prolonged fever that does not recover with OTC drugs (such as paracetamol, ibuprofen, etc) with another classical symptoms as written above. There are some diagnostic tools to confirm the diagnosis of typhus fever.

• Widal test. It is a blood test to detect any presence of Salmonella antibodies against antigen. It is not recommended because it is time consuming and there are so many false positive.
• Body fluid and tissue culture, such as blood, urine, bone marrow, or stool. The most sensitive test for Salmonella typhi is culture.

Typhus fever treatment

• Antibiotics. The doctor may prescribe antibiotics such as:
• Quinolones (ciprofloxacine, ofloxacine)
• Cephalosporines (cefixime, ceftriaxone IV) for pregnant women
• Antipiretics, such as paracetamol, ibuprofen.
• Supportive therapy
• Bed rest
• Drinking fluid to prevent dehydration and help decrease the body temperature
• Low fiber diet
• Hospitalization is not always needed.