Typhoid fever in pregnancy – a South Australian perspective

Salmonella typhi in Australia is uncommon, with a reported incidence of less than 1 per 100,000. In pregnancy, untreated Salmonella can lead to complications including intrauterine fetal death and preterm labour. Described here is a woman who travelled home to India for a month in the second trimester of her pregnancy and contracted the illness there. She had a protracted incubation phase with the bacterium, initially having negative stool samples and then testing positive almost a month after her return. Despite a delay in antibiotic treatment, she went on to recover from her illness and have an uncomplicated vaginal delivery. S. typhi should be considered in the differential for a febrile patient with a recent travel history.