Potent Antibiotic to Treat Typhoid Fever in Patients of Pediatric Age-group

Aims: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Cefixime and chloramphenicol taken orally in the treatment of typhoid fever in pediatric patients.

Study Design: Randomized Clinical Trial.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pediatric Medicine, DHQ Teaching Hospital, Sahiwal and Sahiwal Medical College, Sahiwal (Pakistan) from May to October 2017.

Methodology: We included 60 patients diagnosed with typhoid fever confirmed by blood culture in this study and divided them into two groups. Group A received Cefixime while Group B was treated with Chloramphenicol. All patients were treated on indoor basis after admission to the ward and defervescence period was recorded in days for every patient. Non-responders were treated with alternative antibiotics in time as advised by the ethical review committee.

Results: Among group A patients, Cefixime cured 28 out of 30 patients successfully with an efficacy of 93.3%, while in Group B, chloramphenicol was successful in treating 13 out of 30 patients with a cure rate of 43.3% (P value was 0.01). Overall in this study 45 patients were treated with Cefixime, of which 43 were cured successfully (95.5%) with a P value of 0.005.

Conclusion: Cefixime is a superior choice at present times in this region of Pakistan for the treatment of typhoid fever.