Typhoid fever from the pediatric surgery point of view

Typhoid fever in children is uncommon in industrialized countries with only few reports on diagnosis and management in this setting. Enteric perforation is the complication of typhoid fever associated with the highest morbiditiy and mortality. We report on a 9-year-old girl with severe abdominal symptoms based on a S. typhi infection. The purpose of this report is to highlight the diagnostic and therapeutic difficulities encountered in typhoid fever in children in an area where typhoid is nor endemic. Beyond the various differential diagnosis it is essential to unmask typhoid fever, because surgical treatment is only indicated in the cases of abdominal complications.