Clinical profile of typhoid patients.

OBJECTIVE The present study was undertaken to determine the clinical profile of typhoid fever in hospitalised patients. DESIGN Prospective cross-sectional study. SETTING Kathmandu Medical College and Teaching Hospital. METHOD Total of thirty patients above fifteen years of age who had clinical features strongly suggestive of typhoid fever and on blood culture found to be positive for Salmonella typhi were analysed for clinical features. RESULT Among total of thirty cases, there were 17 (57%) males and 13 (43%) females. 86% of cases of typhoid fever clustered around 15-30 years of age. Predominant symptoms were fever (100%), headache (90%), abdominal Pain (37%) and constipation (33%). Common clinical signs were splenomegaly (37%), relative bradycardia (27%) and hepatomegaly (17%). None of the patients presented with complications. CONCLUSION The clinical profile of typhoid fever in our study revealed not much difference from that of other studies on typhoid fever. Rose spots were not noticed and we did not find a single case of complication of typhoid fever. Probably early initiation of antibiotics prevented the complications.