A 25-year-old woman from India presents with 3 weeks of high fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea. She is diagnosed with enteric fever. On day 21 of i...

Question

A 25-year-old woman from India presents with 3 weeks of high fever, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea. She is diagnosed with enteric fever. On day 21 of illness she develops sudden-onset severe abdominal pain with guarding and rigidity. Erect CXR shows free gas under the diaphragm. What complication has occurred?

Accepted Answer

Intestinal perforation - the most feared complication of enteric fever, typically in the third week of untreated illness, involving Peyer's patches in the terminal ileum

Answer

Appendicitis

Answer

Pancreatitis

Answer

Cholecystitis

Answer

Renal colic

uk-dtmh MCQ (SBA): Enteric Fever Perforation