Typhoid fever

Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a bacterial infection due to specific type of Salmonella that causes symptoms. Symptoms may vary from mild to severe, and usually begin 6 to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several days. This is commonly accompanied by weakness, abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, and mild vomiting. Some people develop a skin rash with rose colored spots. In severe cases, people may experience confusion. Without treatment, symptoms may last weeks or months. Diarrhea is uncommon. Other people may carry the bacterium without being affected; however, they are still able to spread the disease to others. Typhoid fever is a type of enteric fever, along with paratyphoid fever. Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a bacterial infection due to specific type of Salmonella that causes symptoms. Symptoms may vary from mild to severe, and usually begin 6 to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several days. This is commonly accompanied by weakness, abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, and mild vomiting. Some people develop a skin rash with rose colored spots. In severe cases, people may experience confusion. Without treatment, symptoms may last weeks or months. Diarrhea is uncommon. Other people may carry the bacterium without being affected; however, they are still able to spread the disease to others. Typhoid fever is a type of enteric fever, along with paratyphoid fever. The cause is the bacterium Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica growing in the intestines and blood. Typhoid is spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person. Risk factors include poor sanitation and poor hygiene. Those who travel in the developing world are also at risk. Only humans can be infected. Symptoms are similar to those of many other infectious diseases. Diagnosis is by either culturing the bacteria or detecting their DNA in the blood, stool, or bone marrow. Culturing the bacterium can be difficult. Bone-marrow testing is the most accurate. A typhoid vaccine can prevent about 40 to 90% of cases during the first two years. The vaccine may have some effect for up to seven years. For those at high risk or people traveling to areas where the disease is common, vaccination is recommended. Other efforts to prevent the disease include providing clean drinking water, good sanitation, and handwashing. Until an individual's infection is confirmed as cleared, the individual should not prepare food for others. The disease is treated with antibiotics such as azithromycin, fluoroquinolones, or third-generation cephalosporins. Resistance to these antibiotics has been developing, which has made treatment of the disease more difficult. In 2015, 12.5 million new cases worldwide were reported. The disease is most common in India. Children are most commonly affected. Rates of disease decreased in the developed world in the 1940s as a result of improved sanitation and use of antibiotics to treat the disease. Each year in the United States, about 400 cases are reported and the disease occurs in an estimated 6,000 people. In 2015, it resulted in about 149,000 deaths worldwide – down from 181,000 in 1990 (about 0.3% of the global total). The risk of death may be as high as 20% without treatment. With treatment, it is between 1 and 4%. Typhus is a different disease. However, the name typhoid means 'resembling typhus' due to the similarity in symptoms. Classically, the progression of untreated typhoid fever is divided into four distinct stages, each lasting about a week. Over the course of these stages, the patient becomes exhausted and emaciated. The Gram-negative bacterium that causes typhoid fever is Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica. The two main types of the subspecies enterica are ST1 and ST2, based on MLST subtyping scheme, which are currently widespread globally. Unlike other strains of Salmonella, no animal carriers of typhoid are known. Humans are the only known carriers of the bacteria. S. e. subsp. enterica is spread through the fecal-oral route from individuals who are currently infected and from asymptomatic carriers of the bacteria. An asymptomatic human carrier is an individual who is still excreting typhoid bacteria in their stool a year after the acute stage of the infection. Diagnosis is made by any blood, bone marrow, or stool cultures and with the Widal test (demonstration of antibodies against Salmonella antigens O-somatic and H-flagellar). In epidemics and less wealthy countries, after excluding malaria, dysentery, or pneumonia, a therapeutic trial time with chloramphenicol is generally undertaken while awaiting the results of the Widal test and cultures of the blood and stool. The Widal test is time-consuming and prone to significant false positive results. The test may also be falsely negative in the early course of illness. However, unlike the Typhidot test, the Widal test quantifies the specimen with titres.