Typhoid FeverVania Lundina

Typhoid Fever is an infectious bacterial fever with an eruption of red spots on

the chest and abdomen and severe intestinal irritation. This disease is transmitted by

the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person.

More than 21 million people in the world suffered from typhoid fever each year.

This fever is common in most parts of the world except for the industrialized

or developed regions like the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and

Japan. The risk of typhoid fever is greatest within Indian sub-continent and other

developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Carribean, Central and South America.

Infectious bacteria called Salmonella Typhi cause this fever. These bacteria

are included in the family of Enterobactericeae. The shape is bacilli or rod-like. After

ingestion, Salmonella invade the small intestine and enter the bloodstream

temporarily. The time when the multiplied bacteria reenter the bloodstream is when

the patients develop symptoms. This process happens in 3 to 60 days after the

ingestion of bacteria. The period between the start of symptoms and being infected is

called the typhoid fever incubation period.

There are some impacts caused from suffering this disease, such as the

changing mental status and a sudden attack of illness may occur. Intestinal bleeding

may also occur in the patient’s body. Weight loss also happen due to the patient’s loss

of appetite and this also causes motionless or having no enthusiasm in doing

activities. The patients are mostly attacked by mental delirium, which caused acutely

disturbed state of mind or hallucinations.

In determining this disease, there are some symptoms that can be seen earlier.

The patients may have poor appetite, headaches, high fever, diarrhea caused by the

intestine irritation, bloody nose and also lethargy or loss of energy. These symptoms

may also resemble other kinds of diseases like malaria.

In curing this fever, certain types of drugs are consumed by the patient.

Typhoid is treated with antibiotics that kill the Salmonella bacteria. With appropriate

antibiotic therapy, there is usually improvement within 1 to 2 days and recovery

within 7-10 days. The original drug to this disease is chloramphenicol. Some typhoid

vaccines are also available, but not 100% effective.

Is typhoid fever grave? The answer is absolutely yes. In severe typhoid cases,

complications such as intestinal perforations, bleeding, heart and nervous disorders

can develop resulting to death. The danger is also increased by the fact that this

ailment does have signs similar to those of many other diseases hence one’s case can

be misdiagnosed. This also can lead to an abrupt death. However if only people can

get into the habit of seeking medical attention as early as possible, these deaths can be

prevented by making a correct diagnosis.

There are some influencing/triggering factors that lead to typhoid disease.

Eating food that is contaminated from the food handler who is infected with typhoid

fever is one of them. People who do international travel a lot may also suffer from

typhoid disease. Poor water sanitation, poverty and raw food materials also lead to

typhoid disease in certain community, especially in developing regions where clean

water are hard to get like in Africa

There is one interesting phenomena about this disease, which is the sad story

of Typhoid Mary. Mary Mallon worked as a cook for a New York banker Charles

Henry Warren when they’re on their summer vacation in Long Island. On August 27,

one of Warren’s daughters became ill with typhoid fever. Soon, Warren’s wife and

two maids became ill, followed by their gardener and another Warren daughter.

Finally, six out of eleven people in the house came down with typhoid.

Since the source of typhoid are mostly through water and food sources,

Warren was afraid that he would not be able to rent the property again without

discovering the source of the outbreak. Then he hired a civil engineer with experience

on typhoid fever outbreaks. He believed that Mary Mallon, the recently cook was the

cause. He then investigated her and found out that she had been carrying typhoid from

job to job and infected 22 people, including a young girl who died after Mallon had

come to work for them.

To avoid this disease, we should keep ourselves a healthy life. We have to

prepare food and hygiene safely and healthy. One of the easiest ways to prevent

typhoid is by washing our hands before we eat and cook. Actions are needed if you

suspect yourself or other people have typhoid fever, because it may continue to cause

more deaths resulting from delayed treatment.