title: Influence of sex on clinical features, laboratory findings, and complications of typhoid fever.
abstract: Clinical features, laboratory findings, and complications of typhoid fever were correlated with sex through a retrospective case note review of 102 hospitalized culture-positive patients in Durban, South Africa. Intestinal perforation (P = 0.04), occult blood losses in stools (P = 0.04), and a mild reticulocytosis in the absence of hemolysis (P = 0.02) occurred more frequently in males than in females. A single pretreatment Widal O antibody titer > or = 1:640 was also a statistically significant occurrence in males (P = 0. 006). Female patients were significantly more severely ill (P = 0.0004) on admission and had chest signs consistent with bronchopneumonia (P = 0.04), transverse myelitis (P = 0.04), abnormal liver function test results (P = 0.0003), and abnormal findings in urinalyses (P = 0.02). Typhoid hepatitis (P = 0.04) and glomerulonephritis (P = 0.02) were present significantly more frequently in females. Whether these differences were due to differences in host's immune response to acute infection need to be determined in a prospective study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Natal Medical School, Congella, Durban, South Africa.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Coovadia
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Sturm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis; D001996:Bronchopneumonia / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000150:complications; D006505:Hepatitis / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D007416:Intestinal Perforation / Q000150:complications; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008297:Male; D009187:Myelitis / Q000150:complications; D009780:Occult Blood; D017701:Reticulocyte Count; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012485:Salmonella typhi / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014435:Typhoid Fever / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016482:Urinalysis