The objectives of this community-based surveillance component of the National Surveillance System for Enteric Fever in India are to estimate the burden of culture confirmed typhoid and paratyphoid fever in the community; describe the incidence of acute febrile illness and its associated treatment practices in the community and to explore the risk factors for typhoid transmission in the community to permit the risk characterisation of the settings where the incidence estimates arise from.  The study will be conducted in four states in various locations of India (Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal). Children from Urban/semi urban populations at these sites will be enrolled. Each site will enrol 6000 children in approximately four months’ time and follow them up for 24 months. At each site incident cases of fever will be identified through weekly fever surveillance and self-reporting of febrile episodes. Additionally, specific sites may use other systems relevant to their setting for example monitoring hospitals within the surveillance setting for identification of fever cases. Fever episodes will be followed up daily until the end of the episode by dedicated field research personnel. Any febrile episode meeting the criteria for suspected typhoid fever will be encouraged to provide a blood sample for diagnosis of typhoid fever. Treatment will be continued at the preferred healthcare provider. Early use of unwarranted antibiotics, especially prior to investigation of suspected typhoid fever will be minimized using a combination of approaches tailored to each study setting.  Suspected typhoid fever will be investigated using blood culture in an automated blood culture system. Isolates will be sequenced at a central laboratory to identify the genotypic characteristics.