The latest global evaluation of the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates typhoid-related deaths ranges from 1,28,000 to 1,61,000 per year. According to this estimate, ~11–21 million typhoid cases are annually recorded. The prevalence of typhoid in Africa, South East Asian countries, Western Pacific countries, Central and South America and India is commonly reported. These areas have poor water quality and sewage sanitation. Typhoid, a gastrointestinal infection, is characterised by high diarrhoea, vomiting fever and is caused by a bacterial infection known as Salmonella typhi (S. Typhi). An individual can get infected with these bacteria by ingesting contaminated food or water. Moreover, typhoid fever is referred to as enteric fever, which describes both typhoid and paratyphoid fever. The illness course extends to unspecified body system-related diseases from the early digestive system distress and eventually to multiple complications. Salmonella spreads through the faecal-oral route through contaminated water, undercooked food, fomites of the infected patient, and more common areas with overcrowding and poor sanitation. Individuals suffering from typhoid fever carry the bacteria in both their bloodstream and intestinal tract.
To diagnose Gastroenteritis Typhoid, your healthcare provider will review your medical history, perform a physical exam, and order diagnostic tests such as a chest X-ray. This information can help determine what type of Gastroenteritis Typhoid you have.
Typhoid patients can experience the symptoms of typhoid for 7–14 days after exposure to typhoid bacteria. The approximate duration of typhoid illness is in the range of 3–4 weeks varying on severity. The incubation period of typhoid bacteria is 7–14 days. During typhoid, there is a gradual rise in temperature (step ladder pattern).
Here are certain prominent symptoms:
Typhoid’s primary cause is Salmonella typhi; this illness spreads via food, drinking water and drinks that become contaminated because of typhoid-infected faecal matter.[11] An individual contracts typhoid fever through drinking water and eating foods contaminated with faecal matter, containing a greater volume of Salmonella typhi bacteria. The infected individual’s stool can spoil the entire supply of water around a typhoid patient, which can cause the contamination of the whole food supply chain around him. Moreover, typhoid can be spread through asymptomatic typhoid carriers, which indicates that they foster the bacteria but experience no ill effects. In such people, typhoid can appear.
Typhoid-related infection is associated with various risk factors, including age, sex, poor sanitation, consumption of unwashed produce, contaminated water, and poor handwashing practice.
WHO recommends two vaccines for typhoid prevention. One is weak, life and orally administered, while the other is an inactivated vaccine shot.
Vaccine shot: Anyone above the age of 2 is advised with this vaccination injection. High-risk category people are recommended to have repeated doses.
Oral vaccine: People over the age of 6 can be given this vaccination. It is available in a pack of four tablets, four out of three of which have to be taken on alternating days. Your physician may suggest you take the last one a week before going to a place with high typhoid prevalence. The ideal time to take each capsule is an hour before a meal. Preferably, you should have it with cold or lukewarm water. This vaccine’s repeated booster dose is recommended by doctors every five years for people in a high-risk zone.
