paratyphoid fever

Paratyphoid Fever 

Definition

Paratyphoid fever, which is sometimes called Salmonella paratyphi infection, is a serious contagious disease caused by a gram-negative bacterium. It is also grouped together with typhoid fever under the name enteric fever.

Description

Enteric fever is increasingly rare in the United States. Of the 500 cases reported in an average year, about 60% are infections acquired during travel in Mexico, India, or South America.

Paratyphoid fever has three stages: an early stage marked by high fever; a toxic stage with abdominal pain and intestinal symptoms, and a long period of recovery from fever (defervescence). In adults, these three phases may cover a period of four to six weeks; in children, they are shorter and may cover 10 days to two weeks. During the toxic stage there is a 1-10% chance of intestinal perforation or hemorrhage.

Causes and symptoms

Paratyphoid fever is caused by any of three strains of Salmonella paratyphi: S. paratyphi A; S. schottmuelleri (also called S. paratyphi C); or S. hirschfeldii (also called S. paratyphi B). It can be transmitted from animals or animal products to humans or from person to person. The incubation period is one to two weeks but is often shorter in children. Symptom onset may be gradual in adults but is often sudden in children.

Paratyphoid fever is marked by high fever, headache, loss of appetite, vomiting, and constipation or diarrhea. The patient typically develops an enlarged spleen. About 30% of patients have rose spots on the front of the chest during the first week of illness. The rose spots develop into small hemorrhages that may be hard to see in African or Native Americans.

Patients with intestinal complications have symptoms resembling those of appendicitis: intense cramping pain with soreness in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis is usually made on the basis of a history of recent travel and culturing the paratyphoid organism. Because the disease is unusual in the United States, the doctor may not consider paratyphoid in the diagnosis unless the patient has the classic symptoms of an enlarged spleen and rose spots. The doctor will need to rule out other diseases with high fevers, including typhus, brucellosis, tularemia (rabbit fever), psittacosis (parrot fever), mononucleosis, and Kawasaki syndrome. S. paratyphi is easily cultured from samples of blood, stool, urine, or bone marrow.

Treatment

Medications

Paratyphoid fever is treated with antibiotics over a two- to three-week period with trimethoprimsulfamethoxazole (Bactrim, Septra); amoxicillin (Amoxil, Novamoxin); and ampicillin (Amcill). Thirdgeneration cephalosporins (ceftriaxone [Rocephin], cefotaxime [Claforan], or cefixime [Suprax]) or chloramphenicol (Chloromycetin) may be given if the specific strain is resistant to other antibiotics.

Surgery

Patients with intestinal perforation or hemorrhage may need surgery if the infection cannot be controlled by antibiotics.

Supportive care

Patients with paratyphoid fever need careful monitoring for signs of complications as well as bed rest and nutritional support. Patients with severe infections may require fluid replacement or blood transfusions.

Prognosis

Most patients with paratyphoid fever recover completely, although intestinal complications can result in death. With early treatment, the mortality rate is less than 1%.

Prevention

Immunization

Vaccination against paratyphoid fever is not necessary within the United States but is recommended for travel to countries with high rates of enteric fever.

Hygienic measures

Travelers in countries with high rates of paratyphoid fever should be careful to wash hands before eating and to avoid meat, egg, or poultry dishes unless they have been thoroughly cooked.

Key terms

Defervescence — Return to normal body temperature after high fever.

Enteric fever — A term that is sometimes used for either typhoid or paratyphoid fever.

Rose spots — Small slightly raised reddish pimples that are a distinguishing feature of typhoid or paratyphoid infection.

Resources

Books

Fauci, Anthony S., et al., editors. Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997.

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fever /fe·ver/ (fe´ver)

1. pyrexia; elevation of body temperature above the normal (37°C).

2. any disease characterized by elevation of body temperature.

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blackwater fever  a dangerous complication of falciparum malaria, with passage of dark red to black urine, severe toxicity, and high mortality.

boutonneuse fever  a tickborne disease endemic in the Mediterranean area, Crimea, Africa, and India, due to infection with Rickettsia conorii, with chills, fever, primary skin lesion (tache noire), and rash appearing on the second to fourth day.

cat-scratch fever  see under disease.

central fever  sustained fever resulting from damage to the thermoregulatory centers of the hypothalamus.

childbed fever  puerperal septicemia.

Colorado tick fever  a tickborne, nonexanthematous, febrile, viral disease caused by an arenavirus and seen in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States.

continued fever  one that varies only slightly in 24 hours.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever  a hemorrhagic fever caused by the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, transmitted by ticks and by contact with blood, secretions, or fluids from infected animals or humans; it occurs in the Crimea, Central Asia, and regions of Africa.

drug fever  febrile reaction to a therapeutic agent, such as a vaccine, antineoplastic, or antibiotic.

elephantoid fever  a recurrent acute febrile condition occurring with filariasis; it may be associated with elephantiasis or lymphangitis.

enteric fever  any of a group of febrile illnesses associated with enteric symptoms caused by salmonellae, especially typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever.

epidemic hemorrhagic fever  an acute infectious disease characterized by fever, purpura, peripheral vascular collapse, and acute renal failure, caused by viruses of the genus Hantavirus, thought to be transmitted to humans by contact with saliva and excreta of infected rodents.

familial Mediterranean fever  a hereditary disease usually seen in Armenians and Sephardic Jews, with short recurrent attacks of fever, pain in the abdomen, chest, or joints, and erythema like that of erysipelas; it may be complicated by amyloidosis.

Haverhill fever  the bacillary form of rat-bite fever, due to Streptobacillus moniliformis, and transmitted through contaminated raw milk and its products.

hay fever  a seasonal form of allergic rhinitis, with acute conjunctivitis, lacrimation, itching, swelling of the nasal mucosa, nasal catarrh, and attacks of sneezing, an anaphylactic or allergic reaction excited by a specific allergen (such as pollen).

hemorrhagic fevers  a group of diverse, severe viral infections seen around the world but mainly in the tropics, usually transmitted to humans by arthropod bites or contact with virus-infected rodents; they all have certain common features, including fever, hemorrhagic manifestations, thrombocytopenia, shock, and neurologic disturbances.

humidifier fever  malaise, fever, cough, and myalgia caused by inhalation of air that has been passed through humidifiers, dehumidifiers, or air conditioners contaminated by fungi, amebas, or thermophilic actinomycetes.

intermittent fever  an attack of malaria or other fever, with recurring fever episodes separated by times of normal temperature.

Katayama fever  fever associated with severe schistosomal infections, accompanied by hepatosplenomegaly and by eosinophilia.

Lassa fever  a highly fatal, acute, febrile disease seen in West Africa, caused by a virulent arenavirus and characterized by increasing prostration, sore throat, ulcerations of the mouth or throat, rash, and general aching.

metal fume fever  a disease of welders and others working with volatilized metals, marked by sudden thirst, metallic taste in the mouth, high fever with chills, sweating, and leukocytosis.

mud fever  a type of leptospirosis seen in workers in flooded fields and swamps in Germany and Russia.

nonseasonal hay fever , hay fever, perennial nonseasonal allergic rhinitis.

Oroya fever  see Carrión's disease.

paratyphoid fever  paratyphoid.

parenteric fever  a disease clinically resembling typhoid fever and paratyphoid, but not caused by Salmonella.

parrot fever  psittacosis.

pharyngoconjunctival fever  an epidemic disease due to an adenovirus, seen mainly in school children, with fever, pharyngitis, conjunctivitis, rhinitis, and enlarged cervical lymph nodes.

phlebotomus fever  a febrile viral disease of short duration, transmitted by the sandfly Phlebotomus papatasi, with dengue-like symptoms, seen in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries.

Pontiac fever  a self-limited disease marked by fever, cough, muscle aches, chills, headache, chest pain, confusion, and pleuritis, caused by a strain of Legionella pneumophila.

pretibial fever  an infection due to a serovar of Leptospira interrogans, marked by a rash on the pretibial region, with lumbar and postorbital pain, malaise, coryza, and fever.

puerperal fever  septicemia accompanied by fever, in which the focus of infection is a lesion of the mucous membrane of the parturient canal due to trauma during childbirth; usually due to a streptococcus.

Q fever  a febrile rickettsial infection, usually respiratory, first described in Australia, caused by Coxiella burnetii.

rat-bite fever  either of two clinically similar acute infectious diseases, usually transmitted through a rat bite, one form (bacillary) of which is caused by Streptobacillus moniliformis and the other form (spirillary) by Spirillum minor.

recurrent fever 

1. relapsing f.

2. recurrent paroxysmal fever occurring in various diseases, such as malaria.

relapsing fever  any of a group of infectious diseases due to various species of Borrelia, marked by alternating periods of fever and apyrexia, each lasting from five to seven days.

remittent fever  one that shows significant variations in 24 hours but without return to normal temperature.

rheumatic fever  a febrile disease occurring as a sequela to Group A hemolytic streptococcal infections, characterized by multiple focal inflammatory lesions of connective tissue structures, especially of the heart, blood vessels, and joints, and by Aschoff bodies in the myocardium and skin.

Rift Valley fever  a zoonotic febrile disease with dengue-like symptoms, due to an arbovirus, transmitted to humans by mosquitoes or by contact with diseased animals; first observed in the Rift Valley, Kenya.

Rocky Mountain spotted fever  infection with Rickettsia rickettsii, transmitted by ticks, marked by fever, muscle pain, and weakness followed by a macular petechial eruption that begins on the hands and feet and spreads to the trunk and face, with other symptoms in the central nervous system and elsewhere.

rose fever  a form of hay fever caused by grass pollens released while roses or other flowers are blooming.

scarlet fever  an acute disease caused by Group A β-hemolytic streptococci, marked by pharyngotonsillitis and a skin rash caused by an erythrogenic toxin produced by the organism; the rash is a diffuse, bright red erythema, and desquamation of the skin begins as fine scaling with eventual peeling of the palms and soles.

Sennetsu fever  a febrile disease seen in Japan and Malaysia and caused by Ehrlichia sennetsu, characterized by headache, nausea, lymphocytosis, and lymphadenopathy.

septic fever  fever due to septicemia.

South African tickbite fever  boutonneuse f.

trench fever  a louse-borne rickettsial disease due to Bartonella quintana, transmitted by the body louse, Pediculus humanus corporis, and characterized by intermittent fever, generalized aches and pains, particularly severe in the shins, chills, sweating, vertigo, malaise, typhus-like rash, and multiple relapses.

typhoid fever  infection by Salmonella typhi chiefly involving the lymphoid follicles of the ileum, with chills, fever, headache, cough, prostration, abdominal distention, splenomegaly, and a maculopapular rash; perforation of the bowel may occur in untreated cases.

fever of unknown origin  (FUO) a febrile illness of at least three weeks' duration (some authorities permit a shorter duration), with a temperature of at least 38.3°C on at least three occasions and failure to establish a diagnosis in spite of intensive inpatient or outpatient evaluation (three outpatient visits or three days' hospitalization).

West Nile fever  see under encephalitis.

yellow fever  an acute, infectious, mosquito-borne viral disease, endemic primarily in tropical South America and Africa, marked by fever, jaundice due to necrosis of the liver, and albuminuria.

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par·a·ty·phoid fever (pr-tfoid)

n.

An acute intestinal disease, similar to typhoid fever but less severe, caused by food contaminated with bacteria of the genus Salmonella. Also called enteric fever.

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paratyphoid fever

[-tī′foid]

Etymology: Gk, para + typhos, stupor, eidos, form; L, febris, fever

a bacterial infection, caused by any Salmonella species other than S. typhi, characterized by symptoms resembling typhoid fever, although somewhat milder. See also rose spots, Salmonella, salmonellosis, typhoid fever.

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paratyphoid [par″ah-ti´foid]

1. resembling typhoid fever.

2. paratyphoid fever.

paratyphoid fever infection caused by Salmonella of all groups except S. typhosa. The disease is usually milder than typhoid fever and has a shorter incubation period, more abrupt onset, and a lower mortality rate. Clinically and pathologically, however, the two diseases cannot be distinguished.