Typhoid or Enteric fever is seriousus and common infection (in many countries) caused by the gram-negative bacilli Salmonella typhi and is characterized by sustained fever, abdominal pain, and a rash.

Causes

Contamination of food products and water supplies with infected fecal matter causes widespread infections. Flies can spread the    infection directly from stool to foods. Typhoid is a water and food borne disease. Poor as well as developing countries such as Asian countries (India, Pakistan, Shri Lanka, Bangldesh), African countries have Enteric fever as a major health menace.

 Symptoms

The symptoms of typhoid fever start 7-14 days after consuming food or drinks contaminated with the Salmonella typhi bacteria.

Untreated typhoid runs a course having four classical stages each lasting for about a week.

• Fever with headache, malaise, relatively slow heart beats and cough.
• There may be abdominal pain and episodes of bleeding from the nose.

Into the second week of untreated infection, symptoms seen are:

• Fever hovers around 40°C (104°F) with relatively low pulse rate.
• The abdomen seems bloated, distended and painful in the right lower quadrant. The bowel sounds are loud and audible.
• Minute ‘rose-colored’ skin rash over the lower chest and upper abdomen, occur in nearly 50% of cases and last for 3 to 5 days.
• The person may appear to be in a delirious state, constantly muttering to himself or picking at the bed-sheets.
• Diarrhea may occur in this stage. Around 5 to 8 diarrheal stools, greenish, and looking like pea-soup are seen. However, constipation is more commonly seen.
• Joint pains may be present.
• The liver and spleen may seem enlarged.

The 3rd week of untreated typhoid can present with life-threatening emergencies:

• Intestinal perforation ‘ perforation of the walls of small intestine can be lfe-threatening.
• Bleeding into the intestines
• Spread of the infection to the brain via the blood causing inflammation of the brain.
• Inflammation of the gall-bladder, heart muscles; infections in the bones, and formation of abscesses within other important internal organs.

Homeopathy in enteric fevers

Homeopathy works for Enteric fever. We have documented several cases of successful cure of Enteric fever. We, do not recommend homeopathy for acute cases of Enteric fever.