Hi, The treatment of Typhoid fever requires use of intravenous antibiotics like Azithromycin and/or Monocef in high doses, until the Widal test titres start to drop down and/or the blood culture show negative test results. In addition, the symptoms of the patient like fever spikes are taken into consideration to determine the duration of antibiotic course. It is not uncommon to change the antibiotic in non-responding patients. This is due the fact that, most micro-organisms have developed resistance to various antibiotics including typhoid causing bacteria particularly in the endemic zones. The duration of treatment depends on variety of factors like bacterial load, sensitivity to antibiotics, patient condition and underlying co-morbidity(if any). Average patient, with no underlying health issues and on appropriate antibiotics recover fully in about 6-8 weeks. The heavy dose of antibiotics is crucial to control the infection and to prevent complications in typhoid patients like intestinal perforations, peritonitis, ulcers in the intestine and neurological complications with spread to brain. Therefore, only after considering risk-benefits the treatment regime is prescribed. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Take care Regards, Dr. Ayesha Shareef