Carriage Prevalence of Salmonella Enterica Serotype Typhi in Gallbladders of Adult Autopsy Cases from Mozambique

Introduction: Typhoid fever is an important public health problem in many low-income countries where asymptomatic carriers play an important role in its dissemination. The bacterium causing typhoid fever can live in the gallstones of asymptomatic persons after the infection. These carriers are reservoirs of S. Typhi, are highly contagious, and spread the disease through the secretion of bacteria in feces and urine. The aim of this study was to determine the carrier rate in an area of Mozambique.

Methodology: The presence of S. Typhi was analyzed in gallbladder samples obtained from 99 adult corpses (in-hospital deaths) from Mozambique by gold-standard culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Results: Only one sample was positive with the culture. However, nine additional samples were positive by PCR and confirmed by DNA sequencing. Thus, the prevalence of S. Typhi was 10.1% (10/99).

Conclusions: We report a high prevalence of S. Typhi in gallbladders among adult autopsy cases from Mozambique.