Ampicillin in the Treatment of Chronic Typhoid Carriers

Abstract

THE only known reservoir of Salmonella typhosa is the human patient or carrier.¹ Some 500 to 2000 cases of typhoid fever have occurred annually in the United States over the past ten years,^{2 , 3} approximately 3 per cent in patients destined to become chronic carriers.¹ A significant fraction of acute cases is traced to domestic infection derived from chronic fecal carriers. The sources of infection for the bulk of the remainder are never identified but are almost certainly contamination of comestibles by ambulatory patients or carriers.In 1962 Tynes and Utz⁴ reported that approximately 3600 chronic carriers of S. typhosa were . . .