ABSTRACT
Aim: To determine the general characteristics of children with arthralgia associated with typhoid fever.
Material and Method: General characteristics of the disease and laboratory of children diagnosed with typhoid fever and accompanying arthralgia were investigated from the hospital records. Arthralgia was determined regarding the patients’ personal reports.
Results: We retrospectively evaluated the records of 100 patients (46 female and 54 male) with a mean age of 8.78 ± 4.66 years (range: 5–213 months). The most common locations were knee joint (n: 40) and ankle (n: 39). Regarding hematological findings; leukocytosis was present in 36 patients and leucopenia was present in eight patients; anaemia was present in 12 patients; and abnormalities in thrombocyte count was present in 32 patients. Mean platelet volume was determined to be lower than normal limits in 33 patients. In seven patients, the treatment was started with ampicillin or TMP-SMX but because of the unresponsiveness the treatment was changed with ceftriaxone.
Conclusion: We determined that, in children with arthralgia accompanying typhoid fever; muscle pain and organomegaly were the most common symptoms accompanying arthralgia while knee joint and ankle were the most commonly affected joints. In treatment 3rd generation cephalosporin should be kept in mind in unresponsive patients.
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