title: The role of abdominal ultrasound in the diagnosis of typhoid fever: an observational study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the usefulness of abdominal ultrasound in the diagnosis of typhoid fever and to determine the common ultrasound findings early in the course of the disease.
  
  
  METHODS
  Abdominal ultrasound examination was performed within the first week of initiation of symptoms in 350 cases with clinical diagnosis of typhoid fever. Subsequent ultrasound follow-up examination was done 15 days later (beginning of the third week). All the patients proved to have positive Widal test and Sallmonella culture. The study was performed in Erbil-Iraq from the period January 1993 to October 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The following ultrasound findings were reported: hepatomegaly (31.4%), prominent intrahepatic bile ducts (64.85%), splenomegaly (100%), mesenteric lymphadenopathy (42.85%), bowel wall thickening (35.71%), acalculous cholecystitis (16.28%), perforations (1.14%), and ascites in (3.4%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study showed that the findings are typical enough to justify initiation of treatment for typhoid fever when serology is equivocal and culture is negative, and is fairly safe to say that normal ultrasound examination early in the course of febrile illness rules out typhoid fever.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Iraq. Electronic address: drsaeedagha@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Saeed Nadhim
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Younis
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002764:Cholecystitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006529:Hepatomegaly / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D007493:Iraq; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013163:Splenomegaly / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014435:Typhoid Fever / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Salmonellosis; Typhoid fever; Ultrasound