Introduction:

typhoid fever is a serious bacterial acute transmissible infection, caused by Salmonella tiphy or Salmonella paratiphy which produces intestinal mucosa inflammation and perforation of the small bowell, that will need urgent surgical treatment.

Objective:

to characterize patients with this condition who have been operated on at the General Surgery service in Huambo Regional Hospital, Angola.

Methods:

a prospective and descriptive study of patients who underwent surgery due to secondary peritonitis, that originated from bowel perforation caused by typhoid fever, was carried out at the General Surgery service of Huambo Regional Hospital, Angola, between January 2013 and December 2014. The universe comprised 230 patients with secondary peritonitis originated from different causes; the sample: 86 patients operated on due to secondary perforation peritonitis caused by typhoid fever.

Results:

male patients predominated with 64%; ages from 10 to 19 with 41.9%, and 77% had rural procedence. During surgery only one perforation was more frequently found; so, simple suture of the perforation with peritoneal lavage and drainage was the most used surgical tecnique. Wound infection in 54.3% of the patients, and male patient death were predominant.

Conclusions:

delayed medical assistance and the distance travelled to search surgical care were important factors that influenced the general biological deteriorated conditions with which the patients arrived to the hospital; however, mortality was low and reasonable taking into account the evolution time of the perforations, as well as the critical systemic and local conditions of these patients.

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