A CLINICAL COMPARISON OF TYPHOID-FEVER CAUSED BY SUSCEPTIBLE AND MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT STRAINS OF SALMONELLA-TYPHI

The clinical features and response to therapy with ciprofloxacin were studied in two groups of patients: those infected by susceptible strai ns of Salmonella typhi and others infected by multidrug-resistant stra ins. There was no significant difference in the clinical presentation, laboratory findings and outcome between the two groups. Patients infe cted with multidrug-resistant strains, however, defervesced in signifi cantly longer time (5.5 days) than those infected by susceptible strai ns (4.35 days) (p=0.031). In areas with high prevalence of multidrug-r esistant Salmonella infection, empiric treatment with quinolones or th ird-generation cephalosporins of all patients with suspected typhoid f ever until the results of culture and sensitivity tests are available may lead to better outcome.