To the Editor.—
A woman who had had typhoid fever at age 13 years had an attack of cholecystitis at age 80 years. At operation, her inflamed gallbladder had a solitary stone, a carcinoma of the fundus, and typhoid bacilli on culture. Her unsuspected and unusually prolonged typhoid carrier state illustrates a potential contagious hazard.Obscure infection in the remote past, decades of apparent good health, and late exacerbation and contagion is a pattern well recognized in tuberculosis and occasionally in other infections as well.
Report of a Case.—
An 80-year-old white woman, a life-long resident of Massachusetts, was admitted to the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, for the first time on Nov 10, 1967, because of 12 hours of pain in the right upper quadrant radiating into the back, associated with a single episode of vomiting of bright-red blood.The patient recalled in detail her case of typhoid fever