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