A study of profile of the patients with typhoid fever in pediatric patients at tertiary care centre

Abstract

Background: Typhoid fever is a disease that is spread via contaminated food and water. It's a bacterial infection that causes red spots to appear on the chest and belly, as well as severe digestive irritation. Aim: The present study evaluated the profile of the patients with typhoid fever in Hyderabad, Telangana state. Materials and Methods: This study was a prospective study conducted during the period of August 2021 to December 2021. The study included children aged 2 to 18 years old who had a 5-day or longer fever with clinical signs and symptoms of typhoid fever and a positive Widal or Typhidot test. Results: 110 patients were selected in the study. Children of 2-8 year age group (46.8%), 9-14 years age group was 38.2% and 15-20 years age group was 15%. The ratio of males to females was 1.29:1. The major clinical feature was fever by all children (98.2%), followed by headache and anorexia (56.4% each), followed by abdominal pain (37.3%), vomiting (36.4%), diarrhoea (16.4%) and constipation (10.9%). 64 cases reported splenomegaly, out of 40 cases in first week, 55% of cases reported splenomegaly. In the second week, 61% reported splenomegaly, in the third week, 50% reported splenomegaly. 31.8% of the children with fever had leukocyte count less than 4000/ mm3, normal leukocyte count was observed in majority of the children with fever i.e. 47.3% and 20.9% of children had >11000/ mm3. Conclusion: Clinical presentation in the study subjects was similar to available reports from literature.