Daily AncestorTyphoid fever
Typhoid fever is a Salmonella infection spread by contaminated food and water, causing long fever and bowel symptoms; it is not the same as typhus.
Typhoid fever is caused by a Salmonella germ and spreads through contaminated water, milk and food. It brings weeks of rising fever, exhaustion and intestinal trouble.
The name means resembling typhus, which explains the old confusion, but the two are different diseases. Typhoid struck wherever water was unsafe, and it was the more common cause of camp fever in the Civil War.
As seen in a recordCause of death line on an early 1900s death certificate
Cause of death: Typhoid fever. Duration: 21 days.
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Daily Ancestor. "Typhoid fever." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/causes-of-death/typhoid-fever. Last checked 2026-10-01.