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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staff
Intestinal bleeding or perforation
The most serious complication of typhoid fever — intestinal bleeding or perforation — may develop in the third week of illness. About 5 percent of people with typhoid fever experience this complication.
Intestinal bleeding is often marked by a sudden drop in blood pressure and shock, followed by the appearance of blood in your stool.
A perforated intestine occurs when your small intestine or large bowel develops a hole, causing intestinal contents to leak into your abdominal cavity and triggering signs and symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and bloodstream infection (sepsis). This life-threatening emergency requires immediate medical care.
Other, less common complications
Other possible complications include:
- Inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis)
- Pneumonia
- Inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis)
- Kidney or bladder infections
- Infections of the spine (osteomyelitis)
- Infection and inflammation of the membranes and fluid surrounding your brain and spinal cord (meningitis)
- Psychiatric problems such as delirium, hallucinations and paranoid psychosis
With prompt treatment, nearly all people in industrialized nations recover from typhoid. Without treatment, some people may not survive complications of the disease.
- Hohmann EL. Epidemiology, microbiology, clinical manifestations, and diagnosis of typhoid fever. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 8, 2010.
- Hohmann EL. Pathogenesis of typhoid fever. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 8, 2010.
- Mintz E. The pre-travel consultation: Travel-related vaccine-preventable diseases: Typhoid and paratyphoid fever. In: Brunette GW, et al. CDC Health Information for International Travel 2010. Atlanta, Ga.: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service; 2009. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2010/chapter-2/typhoid-paratyphoid-fever.aspx. Accessed March 9, 2010.
- Typhoid fever. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/typhoidfever_g.htm. Accessed March 9, 2010.
- Levine MM. Typhoid fever. In: Brachman PS, et al. Bacterial infections of humans: Epidemiology and control. 4th ed. New York, N.Y.: Springer; 2009:913.
- Bhutta ZA. Current concepts in the diagnosis and treatment of typhoid fever. British Medical Journal. 2006;333:78.
- Kaye KS, et al. Salmonella infections (including typhoid fever). In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/187350346-3/0/1492/1157.html?tocnode=54626101&fromURL=1157.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50334-7_14301. Accessed March 9, 2010.
- Hohmann EL. Treatment and prevention of typhoid fever. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 8, 2010.
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