Typhoid Fever Clinical Presentation

Updated: Mar 25, 2022
  • Author: John L Brusch, MD, FACP; Chief Editor: Michael Stuart Bronze, MD  more...
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Presentation

History

Classic typhoid fever syndrome

S typhi and paratyphi are clinically indistinguishable from each other. Symptoms of disease develop 7-14 days after ingestion of the organism. The peaks and troughs of fever rise progressively in stepwise fashion.

Over the course of the first week of illness, a wide variety gastrointestinal symptoms of the disease develop. These include diffuse abdominal pain and tenderness and, in some cases, fierce colicky right upper quadrant pain.Inflamed Peyer patches narrow the bowel lumen to the point of causing significant constipation that may persist for the duration of the illness. If untreated the individual may develop a dry cough, dull frontal headache, delirium, and severe malaise associated with marked stupor. [2]

Seven to 10 days into the illness, the fever plateaus at 103-104°F (39-40°C). The patient develop Rose Spots, salmon-colored, blanching, truncal, maculopapules that are 1-4 cm wide and fewer than 5 in number. These generally resolve within 2-5 days. [2]  They are caused by bacterial emboli to the dermis Occsasionally , they may be seen in cases of Shigellosis or nontyphoidal Salmonellosis. [29]

During the second week, the signs and symptoms listed above progress. The abdomen becomes distended, and soft splenomegaly is common. Relative bradycardia and dicrotic pulse (double beat, the second beat weaker than the first) may develop.

In the third week, the still febrile individual grows more toxic and anorexic with significant weight loss. The conjunctivae are infected, and the patient is tachypneic with a thready pulse and crackles over the lung bases. Abdominal distension is severe. Some patients experience foul, green-yellow, liquid diarrhea (pea soup diarrhea). The individual may descend into the typhoid state, which is characterized by apathy, confusion, and even psychosis. Necrotic Peyer patches may lead to bowel perforation and peritonitis. This complication is often unheralded and may be masked by corticosteroids. At this point, overwhelming toxemia, myocarditis, or intestinal hemorrhage may cause death.

If the individual survives to the fourth week, the fever, mental state, and abdominal distension slowly improve over a few days. Intestinal and neurologic complications may still occur in surviving untreated individuals. Weight loss and debilitating weakness last months. Some survivors become asymptomatic S typhi carriers and have the potential to transmit the bacteria indefinitely. [2, 4, 22, 30, 31]

Various presentations of typhoid fever

The clinical course of an untreated patient with typhoid fever may deviate from that describe above . The timing of the symptoms and host response may vary based on geographic region, race factors, and the infecting bacterial strain. The stepladder fever pattern that was once the hallmark of typhoid fever now occurs in as few as 12% of cases. In most contemporary presentations of typhoid fever, the fever has a steady insidious onset.

Young children, individuals with AIDS, and at least one third of immunocompetent adults who develop typhoid fever develop diarrhea rather than constipation.

Atypical manifestations of typhoid fever include isolated severe headaches that may mimic meningitis, acute lobar pneumonia, isolated arthralgias, urinary symptoms, severe jaundice, or fever alone. Some patients, especially in India and Africa, present primarily with neurologic manifestations such as delirium or, in extremely rare cases, parkinsonian symptoms or Guillain-Barré syndrome. Other unusual complications include pancreatitis, [32] meningitis, orchitis, osteomyelitis, and abscesses anywhere on the body. [2]

Table 1. Incidence and Timing of Various Manifestations of Untreated Typhoid Fever [2, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37] (Open Table in a new window)

 

Incubation

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Post

Systemic

Recovery phase or death (15% of untreated cases)

10%-20% relapse; 3%-4% chronic carriers;

long-term neurologic sequelae (extremely rare);

gallbladder cancer (RR=167; carriers)

Stepladder fever pattern or insidious onset fever

 

Very commona

Very common

Acute high fever

 

Very rareb

 

 

Chills

 

Almost allc

Rigors

 

Uncommon

Anorexia

 

Almost all

Diaphoresis

 

Very common

Neurologic

Malaise

 

Almost all

Almost all

Typhoid state (common)

Insomnia

 

 

Very common

Confusion/delirium

 

Commond

Very common

Psychosis

 

Very rare

Common

 

Catatonia

 

Very rare

 

 

Frontal headache

(usually mild)

 

Very common

 

 

Meningeal signs

 

Raree

Rare

 

Parkinsonism

 

Very rare

 

 

Ear, nose, and throat

Coated tongue

 

Very common

 

 

Sore throatf

 

 

 

 

Pulmonary

Mild cough

 

Common

 

 

Bronchitic cough

 

Common

 

 

Rales

 

Common

 

 

Pneumonia

 

Rare (lobar)

Rare

Common

(basal)

Cardiovascular

Dicrotic pulse

 

Rare

Common

Myocarditis

 

Rare

 

 

Pericarditis

 

Extremely rareg

 

 

Thrombophlebitis

 

 

 

Very rare

Gastrointestinal

Constipation

 

Very common

Common

Diarrhea

 

Rare

Common (pea soup)

Bloating with tympany

 

Very common (84%) [37]

 

 

Diffuse mild abdominal pain

 

Very common

 

 

Sharp right lower quadrant pain

 

Rare

 

 

Gastrointestinal hemorrhage

 

Very rare; usually trace

Very common

intestinal perforation

 

 

 

Rare

Hepatosplenomegaly

 

Common

Jaundice

 

Common

Gallbladder pain

 

Very rare

Urogenital

Urinary retention

 

Common

Hematuria

 

Rare

Renal pain

 

Rare

Musculoskeletal

Myalgias

Very rare

Arthralgias

Very rare

Rheumatologic

Arthritis (large joint)

Extremely rare

Dermatologic

Rose spots

 

Rare

Miscellaneous

Abscess (anywhere)

 

Extremely rare

Extremely rare

Extremely rare

a Very common: Symptoms occur in well over half of cases (approximately 65%-95%).

b Very rare: Symptoms occur in less than 5% of cases.

c Almost all: Symptoms occur in almost all cases.

d Common: Symptoms occur in 35%-65% of cases.

e Rare: Symptoms occur in 5%-35% of cases.

f Blank cells: No mention of the symptom at that phase was found in the literature.

g Extremely rare: Symptoms have been described in occasional case reports.

Treated typhoid fever

If appropriate treatment is initiated within the first few days of full-blown illness, the disease begins to remit after about 2 days, and the patient's condition markedly improves within 4-5 days. Any delay in treatment increases the likelihood of complications and recovery time.

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Physical

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Causes

S typhi and Salmonella paratyphi cause typhoid/enteric fever.

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Physical Examination

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Complications

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