Typhoid fever in an epidemic area: a 'great imitator'

A series of 159 cases of typhoid fever from an endemic area is presented. Epidemiological and clinical features on admission are considered. Although the findings in the majority of cases tally with standard descriptions of the disease, typhoid fever was included in the differential diagnosis of only about half of the cases. Typhoid fever should always be borne in mind when a patient from an endemic area presents with a pyrexial illness