Anyone can get typhoid fever but the greatest risk exists to travelers visiting countries where the disease is common. Occasionally, local cases can be traced to exposure to a person who is a chronic carrier. Typhoid germs are passed in the feces and, to some extent, the urine of infected people. The germs are spread by eating or drinking water or foods contaminated by feces from the infected individual. Symptoms may be mild or severe and may include fever, headache, constipation or diarrhea, rose-colored spots on the trunk and an enlarged spleen and liver.
Relapses are common.
Fatalities are less than 1 percent with antibiotic treatment. Symptoms generally appear 1 to 3 weeks after exposure. The carrier stage varies from a number of days to years. Only about 3 percent of cases go on to become lifelong carriers of the germ and this tends to occur more often in adults than in children. Specific antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, ampicillin or ciprofloxacin are often used to treat cases of typhoid.