Treatment of Chronic Typhoid Carriers With Ampicillin

Abstract

After 12 chronic typhoid carriers were treated with 4 gm of ampicillin daily for 90 days, stool cultures over an 18-month follow-up period revealed that nine (75%) had been apparently cured. Two of the failures had not followed the regimen correctly—thus, nine of ten (90%) who took the medicine correctly were apparently cured. These data corroborate earlier studies indicating that a course of treatment of only 28 days may be adequate. Eight of 12 patients (66.7%) experienced reactions to ampicillin, one of which was severe. Although not ideal because of the high incidence of untoward reactions experienced in this study, ampicillin appears to be the drug of choice for the treatment of chronic typhoid carriers. Other forms of treatment may be more appropriate for patients with known penicillin allergy, those who cannot be relied upon to take the prescribed medication, and some individuals with known gallbladder disease.