Typhoid Fever in Spokane County
In spring 2021, there was a typhoid fever outbreak in Spokane County, with seven people developing typhoid fever between March 24 and April 21 (five confirmed, two probable). Prior to this cluster, a total of two confirmed cases of typhoid fever were reported in Spokane County over the past five years. The seven recent cases had no known exposure to a diagnosed typhoid fever case or recent international travel. Contact tracing and whole genome sequencing confirmed an epidemiological link between the seven cases and connected them to a cluster of cases in Hawaii. Two of the seven cases were hospitalized.