Reed R P, Klugman K P
Shongwe Hospital, Shongwe Mission, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Pediatr Infect Dis J. 1994 Sep;13(9):774-7. doi: 10.1097/00006454-199409000-00004.
Typhoid fever occurs in children less than 2 years of age but is thought to be a mild, often unrecognized illness. Neonatal typhoid fever is a rare but often life-threatening illness, uniformly fatal in the preantibiotic era. Vertical intrauterine transmission from a typhoid-infected mother is implicated in neonatal typhoid fever. Ten cases at a rural African hospital are presented. Three patients died with two deaths associated with empiric management inappropriate for Salmonella typhi. A second clinical presentation in the neonate is asymptomatic persistent excretion. Infants < or = 3 weeks old may also be infected from an exogenous source and have severe disease. Where typhoid is endemic S. typhi should be considered as a cause of sepsis neonatorum and appropriate antibiotics included in empiric therapy.
