Home > Encyclopedia of Medicine > 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...