Failure of Short-Course Ceftriaxone Chemotherapy for Multidrug-Resistant Typhoid Fever in Children: a Randomized Controlled Trial in Pakistan

DOI: 10.1128/AAC.44.2.450-452.2000

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Characteristics for determining typhoid morbidity score^a

Characteristic	Degree of condition resulting in score of:
Characteristic	0	1	2
Fever	≤37.5°C	37.6–39.0°C	>39.0°C
Mental state	Clear	Irritability	Delirium; coma
Liver size	Not palpable	≤2.5 cm	>2.5 cm
Diarrhea	None	Mild	Severe
Vomiting	None	Nausea	Vomiting
Abdominal pain	None	Diffuse pain	Right hypochondrial tenderness
Result of abdominal examination	Normal	Abdominal distension; doughy feel	Ileus; peritonitis; gastrointestinal bleeding

Table 2.

Comparative clinical and laboratory characteristics of therapy groups

Characteristic	Value for group^a
Characteristic	Short-course therapy	Conventional therapy
Patient data
No. of subjects	29	28
Age (years)	7.1 ± 3.7	5.6 ± 3.4
Gender (male:female)	16:13	16:12
Weight (kg)	18.9 ± 8.7	17.2 ± 8.5
Height (cm)	113.3 ± 30.4	108.4 ± 22.6
Mid-arm circumference (cm)	19.7 ± 2.4	14.6 ± 2.4
Duration of illness (days)	11.7 ± 7.4	15.1 ± 14.8
Baseline investigations
Hemoglobin (g/dl)	10.8 ± 1.6	10.7 ± 1.7
White blood cell count (10⁹/liter)	9.1 ± 4.6	9.6 ± 4.2
C-reactive protein (mg/liter)	82.3 ± 73.4	71.5 ± 47.1
Alanine aminotransferase (IU/liter)	42.9 ± 32.9	90.6 ± 157.9
Alkaline phosphatase (IU/liter)	157.4 ± 140.9	177.1 ± 128.4
Outcome
TMS (admission)	4.1 ± 2.4	4.4 ± 2.2
TMS (day 3)	2.4 ± 2.0	3.0 ± 2.3
TMS (day 7)	0.6 ± 1.6	0.9 ± 1.6
Time to defervescence (days)	5.4 ± 3.2	5.2 ± 3.2
Time to return of appetite (days)	4.7 ± 3.1	4.6 ± 3.0
Clinical failure	2 (7%)	1 (4%)
Bacteriological failure	—	—
Relapse	4 (14%)^b	—