Fever in Children: When to Worry and When to Wait
Fever is not the illness — it is the body fighting one. How the child looks and behaves tells you far more than the number on the thermometer.
Read articleTyphoid is a bacterial infection spread through contaminated food and water, producing a fever that climbs steadily over days. It responds well to the correct antibiotic, but incomplete treatment leads to relapse and to complications in the intestine.
Symptoms
Not everyone gets every symptom, and the pattern can differ in older people, in people with diabetes and in children. These are the ones most often reported.
- Fever that rises steadily over the first week, often highest in the evening
- Headache, body ache and marked weakness
- Abdominal pain, distension and either constipation or loose stools
- Loss of appetite and coated tongue
- Dry cough in the early phase
- Confusion or apathy in severe untreated illness
When to see a doctor
Do not wait these out
If any of the following applies, arrange to be seen the same day. For anything sudden or severe, call 9281862028 or come straight to the emergency department at SIMS — it is open 24 hours and does not need an appointment.
- Fever lasting more than three days without a clear cause
- Severe abdominal pain, distension or black stools — attend the emergency department
- Persistent vomiting, drowsiness or an inability to keep fluids down
- Fever returning after apparently completing treatment
Tests that may be advised
Your consultant will order only the investigations that change the plan. Most of the following are available on the SIMS campus, so results usually come back the same visit.
- Blood culture, the most reliable test, ideally taken before antibiotics
- Complete blood count
- Widal test, which is supportive but not conclusive on its own
- Liver function tests
- Tests to exclude malaria, dengue and urinary infection
How it is treated
Treatment is decided case by case — by how advanced the problem is, what else you are being treated for, and what you can realistically sustain. Broadly, it involves the following.
- A full course of an appropriate antibiotic, guided by culture where available
- Adequate fluids, soft diet and fever control
- Admission for severe illness, complications or an inability to tolerate oral treatment
- Prevention: safe drinking water, handwashing, and care with roadside food and cut fruit
- Typhoid vaccination advice, particularly for children and travellers
This page is general information, not a diagnosis
Typhoid can look like several other conditions, and the reverse is equally true. Nothing here can replace an examination, your test results and the judgement of the doctor treating you — and no medicine mentioned by name to a friend or relative should be started on the strength of this page. If you recognise yourself in it, book a consultation with the General Medicine department. If a symptom is sudden or severe, call 9281862028.
