A fatal typhoid acute respiratory distress syndrome: Report of a rare case

Abstract

We report a fatal case of typhoid acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in a 32-year-old man who was hospitalized with fever, cough, and chills lasting 12 days. While waiting for the results of cultures, his condition rapidly deteriorated within 2 days, and he developed ARDS. The patient was transferred to the medical intensive care unit. Subsequently, his blood, urine, and stool cultures returned positive for Salmonella Typhi. The sensitivities showed that the organism was resistant to nalidixic acid, ampicillin, and ciprofloxacin but was sensitive to ceftriaxone. The patient was intubated, and mechanical ventilation was initiated, while ceftriaxone, vasoactive amines, and hydrocortisone were administered. Unfortunately, the patient died despite escalation to intensive care and the care provided thereof. This interesting case was selected from our previous study entitled Epidemiological and Clinical Features of Salmonella Typhi Infection Among Adult Patients in Qatar: A hospital-based study. Different aspects of typhoid ARDS including clinical presentation, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment are discussed and the literature has been reviewed.

Keywords

• acute respiratory distress syndrome
• ceftriaxone
• ciprofloxacin
• typhoid fever