typhoid fever

noun

|Updated on: 5 Jun 2018

Definition of typhoid fever

: a communicable disease marked especially by fever, diarrhea, prostration, headache, and intestinal inflammation and caused by a bacterium (Salmonella typhi)

See typhoid fever defined for kids

Recent Examples of typhoid fever from the Web

In the early stages, diagnosis is difficult since Ebola can be difficult to distinguish from malaria, typhoid fever, meningitis, yellow fever and other infectious diseases.

— susan scutti, CNN, "Ebola 101: Answers to your questions about causes, symptoms, transmission and treatments," 25 May 2018
The bacterium identified by Bos and colleagues is a variant of Salmonella enterica called Paratyphi C, which can cause a disease similar to typhoid fever.

— kate sheridan, Newsweek, "Ancient Mexican Civilization Nearly Wiped Out by Something Stuck in Their Teeth, New DNA Evidence Reveals," 15 Jan. 2018
Waterborne diseases, like typhoid fever and cholera, are extremely dangerous — but they're not transmitted by rain drops.

— refinery29.com, "This Is How The Deadly Rain Wiped Out Everyone On The Rain," 4 May 2018
The marsh provided an environment for salmonella bacteria and other organisms capable of causing typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever.

— allan b. schwartz, Philly.com, "Medical Mystery: Did this president suffer a death by cherries?," 3 May 2018
The original 43 acres was a donation of rancher Thomas Davis as a tribute to his wife Julia, who died of typhoid fever in 1907.

— dana oland, idahostatesman, "Historic Gene Harris Bandshell in Julia Davis Park catches fire | Idaho Statesman," 23 Apr. 2018
Antibiotics are the only effective treatment for typhoid fever, a systemic infection with varying severity that can become life-threatening.

— beth mole, Ars Technica, "First XDR typhoid is on the verge of being untreatable, spreading globally," 17 Apr. 2018
The results, published in the Lancet last year, showed the vaccine to be 87 percent effective in preventing typhoid fever.

— donald g. mcneil jr., New York Times, "W.H.O. Approves a Safe, Inexpensive Typhoid Vaccine," 3 Jan. 2018
Initial symptoms are easily mistaken for malaria or typhoid fever—body aches, sore throat, fever, nausea, diarrhea—before the disease progresses to organ failure, shock, and sometimes internal hemorrhaging.

— leslie roberts, Science | AAAS, "Health workers scramble to contain deadly rat-borne fever in Nigeria," 12 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'typhoid fever.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of typhoid fever

1829

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

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TYPHOID FEVER Defined for Kids

typhoid fever

noun

Definition of typhoid fever for Students

: a disease that spreads through contaminated food and water and in which there is fever, diarrhea, and great weakness

Medical Dictionary

typhoid fever

noun

medical Definition of typhoid fever

: a communicable disease marked by fever, diarrhea, prostration, headache, splenomegaly, eruption of rose-colored spots, leukopenia, and intestinal inflammation and caused by a bacterium of the genus Salmonella (S. typhi)