A comparative evaluation of the treatment of typhoid fevers with co-trimoxazole and chloramphenicol in Egypt.

Seventy-two patients with bacteriologically proven enteric fever were treated with either co-trimoxazole (41 cases) or chloramphenicol (31 cases). C0-trimoxazole was found to be superior to chloramphenicol in relieving the toxaemia. The average number of days required for patients to become afebrile was 5-5 days in the co-trimoxazole group and 4-5 days in the chloramphenicol group. The cure rate was 97 per cent in each of the treatment groups. There occurred two relapses in the co-trimoxazole group and four relapses in the chloramphenicol group. No side effects of the co-trimoxazole were detected during the study. Co-trimoxazole can be considered as a good alternative to chloramphenicol in the treatment of the enteric fevers.