Profile of typhoid fever in children from a tertiary care hospital in Chennai-South India.

Aim: To study the clinical profile and outcome of hospitalized children with typhoid fever.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a private tertiary care children's hospital over a 3 year period.

Results: A total of 316 children (7 in every 1000 admissions) were diagnosed to have typhoid fever during this period. More than one third were aged between 5 and 10 years and most cases (38%) clustered around the months of January to April. Around 59% of children in our series were unimmunised against typhoid. Eosinopenia was seen in 72 %. There was a significant increase in NARST (p < 0.001). Predictors of severity in this study were increased AST levels, eosinopenia and isolation of NARST.

Conclusion: Public health interventions to minimize human carrier contact, improved personal hygienic measures including health care behavior strategies, typhoid vaccination and rational antibiotic selection based on sensitivity pattern to prevent resistance will help to reduce the morbidity and mortality of this global health problem.