Typhoid Fever

What is Typhoid fever?

"Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria. Typhoid fever is rare in industrialized countries. However, it remains a serious health threat in the developing world, especially for children."

Typhoid fever usually spreads through contaminated food and water that are in close contact with patients of it. "Signs and symptoms usually include high fever, headache, abdominal pain, and either constipation or diarrhea."

"Vaccines against Typhoid fever are available, but they're only partially effective." Vaccines are mainly provided to people who are in close contact with the patients, or travelers visiting places where Typhoid fever is prevalent.

What is a cause of Typhoid fever?

"Typhoid fever is caused by a virulent bacterium called Salmonella typhi."

Fecal-oral transmission route

Typhoid is really epidemic in developing countries. Most cases result from contaminated drinking water and poor sanitation. The majority of people in industrialized countries are contracted to typhoid bacteria while traveling the places. Even worse, they might spread it to others through the fecal-oral route.

This means that S. typhi is passed in the feces and sometimes in the urine of infected people. You can contract the infection if you eat food handled by someone with typhoid fever who hasn't washed carefully after using the toilet. You can also become infected by drinking water contaminated with the bacteria.

Typhoid carriers

Even after the patients are recovered, they might still have symptoms of Typhoid fever. These patients might include chronic carriers. Although they no longer have signs or symptoms of the disease, they are capable of infecting others.

What are symptoms of Typhoid fever?

Signs and symptoms of Typhoid fever are more likely to develop gradually. The symptoms often appear one to three weeks after exposure to it.

1st week of illness

• Fever, that starts low and increases daily, often to as high as 103 or 104 F (39.4 or 40 C)
• Headache
• Weakness and fatigue
• Dry cough
• Loss of appetite
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Rash

2nd week of illness

"If you don't receive treatment for typhoid fever, you may enter a second stage during which you become very ill."

• Continuing high fever
• Either diarrhea or severe constipation
• Considerable weight loss
• Extremely distended abdomen

3rd week of illness

• Become delirious
• Lie motionless and exhausted with your eyes half-closed in what's known as the typhoid state

How do you prevent from contracting Typhoid fever?

It might be almost inevitable for undeveloped countries to stop drinking polluted water, which is a main cause of Typhoid fever. There is not a special way to prevent people from getting infected by it. Vaccinating high-risk populations would be the best way to control typhoid fever.

There are some easy ways that we can follow every day to keep ourselves safe from Typhoid fever :

• Wash hands
• Avoid drinking dirty water
• Avoid raw food (may not be washed perfectly)
• Try to eat hot food

Work Cited :

Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Definition of Typhoid Fever." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 08 May 2013.

Picture Cited :

• http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/medical_countermeasures/323495-zimbabwe-reports-42-cases-of-typhoid-in-mbare/
• http://www.nobledrugstore.com/blog/diseases-condtiion/deadly-disease-typhoid-fever-treatment-with-zithromax-antibiotics
• http://www.ehow.com/how_2046686_recognize-typhoid.html
• http://www.buzzle.com/articles/typhoid-fever.html