[Study of a typhoid fever outbreak in Baiona (Pontevedra)].

BACKGROUND

Despite of the fact of being a high endemic treat, the notification of a typhoid fever outbreak produces a very unusual epidemiological happening in our province. The uncommon of the sight and the importance of this process has made us focus on this study in order to understand its causes as well as to be able to establish some control according to them.

METHODS

In order to do that a retrospective epidemiological case-control study was made. Information was gathered about people who drank water from a public fountain in the village of Lages (Baiona) 14 cases and 52 controls randomly by hazard among the population of Lages and Almirante Fontán. The age mean of the people who became ill was between 25.6 +/- 16.9 years old and those control were 43.0 +/- 18.4 (p = 0.003). Among the 14 with the illness, 3 (21.4%) were men and 11 (78.6%) were women.

RESULTS

The most frequent symptom was the fever (100%), followed by the cephaly (85.7%). The final OR was 57 (IC 95%: 13.2 - 246.2), being in Almirante Fontán a little higher (OR: 77; IC 95%: 4.7 - 572.1) than in Lages (OR: 40; IC 95%: 4.5 - 357.8). Salmonella Typhi strains was isolated in a 77.8% of the cases (7 of 9) where the blood culture was made. The water bacteriological analysis study proved a fecal contamination, but Salmonella Typhi strains wasn't isolated.

CONCLUSIONS

The epidemiological and analytical suspicions guide us towards the water from the above mentioned fountain as the possible responsible for the coming about of this outbreak.