Dr. Balentine received his undergraduate degree from McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. He attended medical school at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine graduating in1983. He completed his internship at St. Joseph's Hospital in Philadelphia and his Emergency Medicine residency at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center in the Bronx, where he served as chief resident.
Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.
"I contracted typhoid fever in 2005 while on vacation in Mexico. The day of my return, I became violently ill. I had uncontrollable diarrhea and vomiting. My fever shot up to 104 degrees, and I was hospitalized where I remained for seven days. I was packed on ice continually as my fever shot to105. I suffered convulsions. The pain in my body was so excruciating. I was put on a morphine drip, and I have a high tolerance for pain. Blood tests showed minimal kidney function and liver failure. Even after I was released, I continued to have fevers of 104 and 105. I was disabled by this illness for months."
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Typhoid fever facts
Typhoid fever usually is caused by Salmonellae typhi bacteria.
Typhoid fever is contracted by the ingestion of
contaminated food or
water.
Diagnosis of typhoid fever is made when the Salmonella
bacteria is
detected with a stool culture.
Approximately 3%-5% of patients become carriers of the bacteria after the
acute
illness.
What is typhoid fever? What is the history of typhoid fever?
Typhoid fever is an acute illness associated with fever
that is most often caused by the
Salmonella typhi bacteria. It can also be caused by Salmonella paratyphi,
a related bacterium that usually leads to a less severe illness. The bacteria
are deposited in water or food by a human carrier and are then spread to
other people in the area. Typhoid fever is rare in industrial countries but continues to be a significant public-health issue in developing countries.
The incidence of typhoid fever in the United States has markedly decreased
since the early 1900s. Today, approximately 400 cases are reported annually in the
United States, mostly in people who recently have traveled to endemic areas.
This is in comparison to the 1920s, when over 35,000 cases were reported in the
U.S. This improvement is the result of improved environmental sanitation. Mexico
and South America are the most common areas for U.S. citizens to contract
typhoid fever. India, Pakistan, and Egypt are also known high-risk areas for
developing this disease. Worldwide, typhoid fever affects more than 13 million
people annually, with over 500,000 patients dying of the disease.
If traveling to endemic areas, you should consult with your health-care professional and discuss if you should receive vaccination for typhoid fever.
Abdominal pain is pain in the belly and can be acute or chronic. Causes include inflammation, distention of an organ, and loss of the blood supply to an organ. Abdominal pain can reflect a major problem with one of the organs in the abdomen such as the appendix, gallbladder, large and small intestine, pancreas, liver, colon, duodenum, and spleen.
Salmonella bacteria are known to cause salmonellosis, typhoid fever, and paratyphoid fever in humans. Salmonella infection is usually caused by ingesting large amounts of the bacteria in contaminated food or water.
Travelers should prepare for their trip by visiting their physician to get the proper vaccinations and obtain the necessary medication if they have a medical condition or chronic disease. Diseases that travelers may pick up from contaminated water or food, insect or animal bites, or from other people include malaria, meningococcal meningitis, yellow fever, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, polio, and cholera.
Salmonella (S.) is the genus name for a large number (over 2,500) of types of
bacteria. Each type is distinctly identifiable by its specific protein
coating. The types are otherwise closely related. Salmonella bacteria are rod-shaped,
flagellated, Gram stain-negative, and are known to cause disease in humans,
animals, and birds (especially poultry) worldwide. The two major diseases caused by
Salmonella spp. are gastroenteritis and typhoid fever (typhoid and paratyphoid fevers) in humans.
The terminology that identifies the particular protein coats, or serovars, is not well settled, and what previously were thought to be various species of the genus
Salmonella are now thought to be serovars of only two species, S. enterica and
S. bongori, by many researchers. However, these designations are not always accepted in the scientific literature. and so common serovars that have been named...
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