Abstract
Background: Ninety five cases of enteric fever among military recruits from a regimental training centre at Maharastra were admitted to the local military hospital in a few weeks time. Methods: A descriptive epidemiological study and detailed site survey was undertaken. Blood culture, antibiotic sensitivity test (ABST) with serotyping and phage typing of the isolates were done. Result: A total of 95 cases occurred from 31 March 2003 to 17 May 2003. Blood culture for Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi was positive in 60 (63.16%) cases. All the isolates showed same serotype - 9, 12: d: Vi and all belonged to phage type E1 biotype 1 indicating single source outbreak. There was one fatality. There was clustering in time and place indicating a common source outbreak. Exploration of water pipeline supply revealed sewage contamination due to pipeline passing close to a overflowing manhole. ABST revealed multi-drug resistance. Conclusion: The outbreak of enteric fever occurred due to sewage contamination of drinking water pipeline.
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