Abstract

Typhoid fever continues to be a major public health problem in many developing countries. In Uganda, an
outbreak of typhoid fever in Kasese District sickened 8092 persons from 27 December 2007 to 30 July 2009,
resulting in at least 249 intestinal perforations and 47 deaths. The study was aimed at determining the prevalence
of typhoid fever among pediatric patients attending Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital, Kabarole district and
also to describe the clinical picture of typhoid fever among pediatric patients attending Fort Portal Regional
Referral Hospital. The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study which involved 73 participants with
questionnaire forms. The questionnaire was designed according to the objectives of the study. The study was
conducted from August 2022 to September 2022.The children with three or more days of fever, no obvious focus
of infection and clinically suspected typhoid fever were screened. Sterile Blood samples were obtained from febrile
patients and typhoid tests were performed for the diagnosis of typhoid fever in the suspected populations. In this
study, the majority of the participants were males 39 (53.4%) and the females were 34 (46.6%) and all these
patients were clinically suspected of typhoid fever. Of these, 5 (6.8%) patients were positive serologically. The
disease was more prevalent in school-age children (5-12 years). Although non-significant association was
observed on a sex basis. The patients who were tested positive, all of them presented with fever (100%), then
anorexia (80%), headache (80%), abdominal pain (60%), body aches (60%), and vomiting (60%). Elevated body
temperature was the most prevalent sign (80%), followed by hepatomegaly (40%), toxic appearance (40%), and
pallor (40%).The prevalence of typhoid fever according to this study was slightly higher in comparison to other
studies and the most common symptom among these patients was fever. The community needs to be sensitized to
proper hygiene to prevent typhoid fever.