Cardiac involvement in travelers with enteric fever

Abstract

Data regarding cardiac involvement in enteric fever among travelers are scarce. In this retrospective study, 59 patients were hospitalized with enteric fever during 2004–2017 and 28 had cardiac workups. Among those, four had evidence of cardiac involvement, including clinical myocarditis, electrocardiogram changes, or troponin elevation. Cardiac involvement was higher among patients infected with Salmonella Typhi than with Salmonella Paratyphi A (P = 0.08), with a significant relative risk of 6 (95% CI: 1.15–31.22, P = 0.03). Time from symptoms onset to effective treatment was longer for patients with cardiac involvement (13 versus 7.15 days, P < 0.05). It seems that cardiac involvement in enteric fever is not uncommon in travelers. Such involvement seems to be more common in patients with delay of effective treatment to the second week of illness. Although fatal or complicated cases are rare in travelers, the cardiac complication may be an important contributor to morbidity and mortality in this group.