F&M student has typhoid fever
Is being treated at LGH

By MADELYN PENNINO, Staff
Published: Sep 08, 2007 3:03 AM EST

LANCASTER, Pa. - A Franklin & Marshall student is being treated for typhoid fever at Lancaster General Hospital, a college administrator said Friday.

Dean of the College Kent Trachte said the student, whom he declined to identify due to confidentiality issues, is an international student.

"There is a high probability that this was contracted outside of the U.S. before the student came to school," Trachte said.

Trachte said the student was diagnosed with typhoid fever on Sept. 5, but has been in the hospital for the past week.

The student lives on campus, Trachte said.

Marianne Kelly, the director of Student Health Services, said in an e-mail to all students Friday afternoon that "the student is being treated with antibiotics, progressing well and will return to classes soon."

According to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, typhoid fever is caused by a bacterium named Salmonella typhi and is transmitted through infected stool to water or food products, which are then consumed.

The major symptoms of typhoid fever, according to the CDC Web site, are sustained high fever, weakness, stomach, pains, headache, muscle aches and loss of appetite. It is diagnosed through blood and/or stool cultures and is most effectively treated with antibiotics.

The incubation period after someone is infected is one to three weeks.

According to the CDC, 400 cases of typhoid fever are diagnosed and treated each year, and 75 percent of these cases are acquired while traveling internationally.

The life-threatening illness is still common in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the CDC Web site says, where it affects about 21.5 million each year.

Trachte said the state Department of Health was notified of the case and determined that the risk of secondary transmission was low.

The department recommended that the college contact individuals with whom the student has had contact.

Trachte said the school decided to communicate the incident with the entire student body.

"We felt it was the right thing to do," he said.

Trachte said he did not know when the student would return to classes.

"We don't know that for sure," Trachte said. "The antibiotics must have the desired effect before he comes back."

E-mail: mpennino@lnpnews.com

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