Typhoid News
Anti-typhoid vaccination drive continues
- The Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) campaign resumed on Monday and will continue for another six days in Karachi with the aim to vaccinate the children who have been missed in the last round
- The authorities claimed to have covered more than 90% of the 10.1 million targeted children, aged between 9 months to 15 years
- Vaccinators and skilled lady health workers have been deployed for conducting outreach sessions in the community, whereas, EPI fixed centres are also administering the TCV to the children between 9am and 4pm
Salmonella Study at Michigan State University: Salmonella is Evolving
- A new study at Michigan State University (MSU) researched how salmonella is changing and, in particular, its resistance to antibiotics
- There are over two thousand strains of salmonella bacteria with around 100 strains connected to human infection – with myriad common strains from Salmonella Heidelberg to Salmonella Typhimurium to Salmonella Infantis
- In Michigan where the salmonella study was conducted, doctors are continually experiencing more cases where some strains of salmonella are resistant to antibiotics
Typhoid tops the health scare chart
- While the WHO has lauded Pakistan’s efforts to prevent the spread of typhiod, the global community is increasingly alarmed about the possibility of Pakistan becoming the hub for typhoid, just like it was for polio up until a few years ago
- According to the Global Burden of Disease study estimates, there were nearly 11 million typhoid cases and more than 116 000 typhoid deaths worldwide in 2017. And if left unchecked, experts believe typhoid has the potential of spreading like the polio virus
Typhoid vaccination drive extended till Dec 7 in Sindh
- The anti-typhoid vaccine has been administered to nine million children in Sindh during 12 days of the campaign, which began on November 18
- The Typhoid Conjugate Vaccination campaign has been extended till December 7 in Sindh to cover a higher percentage of children in the province
Enteric Fever Vaccine Candidate to Launch Phase 1 Study
- A London based biotechnology company has received Clinical Trial Authorization acceptance from the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to conduct a first-in-human Phase I trial for Entervax™, a vaccine candidate against typhoid
- Entervax is an oral, bivalent vaccine based on the Vaxonella® platform
- Prokarium said in a press release published on November 26, 2019, it anticipates dosing of the 1st subject to begin in the first quarter of 2020
WHO, Unicef and Pakistani experts declare new typhoid vaccine ‘very safe’
- About a dozen children had reportedly fainted in a private school after receiving TCV vaccination and were taken to a nearby private health facility and sent home after given first aid. However, panic gripped parents after this minor incident was highlighted by a section of the electronic and print media as a major health fiasco
- The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and Pakistani child specialists and doctors said the newly-introduced vaccine was fully safe and would prevent children from nine months to 15 years of age from typhoid
‘It’s hard to believe, but typhoid fever is on the rise’
- It’s hard to believe, but typhoid fever is on the rise. It seems it’s the latest bug to develop extensive drug resistance. As a result, cases are being identified in Germany, Australia, Canada as well as across the developing world
- As we have seen with many other infectious illnesses, extensive international trade and travel is helping to spread antibiotic resistance in typhoid fever
- However all is not lost: there is now some optimism as a new generation of vaccines provide a foundation for new international efforts for typhoid control. New typhoid “Vi conjugate vaccines” (TCVs) include one that only requires a single dose, and is suitable for children of six months and older
Pakistan first country to introduce new typhoid vaccine into routine immunization programme
- Karachi, 15 November 2019 – Pakistan today became the first country in the world to introduce the World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into its routine immunization programme
- The WHO issued its formal recommendation in support of typhoid conjugate vaccine introduction in March 2018
- In anticipation of the availability of typhoid conjugate vaccines, Gavi earmarked US$ 85 million to support eligible countries with the introduction of typhoid conjugate vaccines into their routine immunization programmes
Typhoid vaccine drive may miss children most in need to be vaccinated
- Pakistan will be the first country in the world to introduce a one-dose vaccine, injected intramuscularly Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine
- Although the government is making an “immense effort” and may well be able to reach the children in schools (about 44 per cent), pediatrician Dr D.S. Akram wondered about the street kids or those working as domestic help and at tea stalls, mechanic shops etc, who do not go to school (some 20pc) and whether the 95pc coverage would be achieved
Typhoid outbreak scare hits Malosa secondary school
- Over 30 students from Malosa secondary school have been admitted to the hospital on suspicion of typhoid fever
- The school uses water from untreated dam
- Last year, the school was forced to close after four students died due to a similar disease
Why is drug-resistant typhoid becoming more common?
- The largest public hospital for children in Sindh, the National Institute of Child Health in Karachi, has recorded 887 cases of typhoid this year
- Most presented with fever and test cultures showed multi-drug resistance, she said, adding that many doctors also caused havoc by prescribing antibiotics without any specific diagnosis
- In an effort to control the typhoid outbreak, the Sindh government will vaccinate 10.1 million children between the ages of nine months and 15 years from November 18 to November 30
With 13,727 XDR typhoid cases reported, Sindh plans to reach 10.1m children
- Following the emergence of 95 per cent of all the typhoid cases as XDR (Extensively Drug Resistant) Typhoid in Sindh, health officials in the province have decided to vaccinate around 10.1 million children
- Currently, only two antibiotics are effective against the XDR typhoid, which are extremely costly and last line of treatment
- Health department officials said the decision to import the Indian vaccine was taken after XDR Typhoid cases reached the figure of 13,727 since it was first reported in 2016
A virulent strain
- In the last three years, a total of 10,195 typhoid fever cases have been reported, with a majority suffering from XDR
- Pakistan launched the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in 1978 with the aim to save children from vaccine-preventable diseases. Once introduced in the EPI, the TCV will be the 11th antigen added to the list
- In a world where numbers are seen as proof of success, the positive thing about immunisation is that its success is quantifiable, and the results are tangible
Otago researchers partner in vaccine project to tackle major killer of African children
- A team of University of Otago researchers is part of a major new international vaccine research project to help tackle devastating Salmonella bloodstream infections which are killing thousands of people in sub-Saharan Africa each year
- The recently-launched Vacc-iNTS research project aims to advance the clinical development of an innovative vaccine against invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis
Govt to launch vaccination campaign against typhoid
- Sindh Health Department officials and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have expressed concern over the increasing number of extensively-drug resistant (XDR) typhoid cases in the province
- The officials announced that the government will launch a Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) campaign against the XDR typhoid fever from 18th to 30th November 2019
- Their target is to vaccinate around 10 million children in Sindh
Decades neglecting ancient disease typhoid fever has triggered a health emergency around the world
- New extensively drug-resistant variants of an ancient and deadly disease—typhoid fever—are spreading across international borders
- Cases have been reported in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Iraq, Guatemala, UK, US, and Germany, as well as more recently in Australia and Canada
- Under-reporting and international surveillance gaps mean that drug-resistant typhoid is probably even more extensive than we think
Untreatable strains of typhoid threaten a global health emergency, experts warn
- The disease which causes as many as 21 million cases a year is too often overlooked as a disease of the past, when in fact it is increasingly difficult to treat
- Researchers from Oxford Martin School are calling for global health institutions to dedicate new resources to tackling typhoid
- Rising antimicrobial resistance and the ongoing outbreak of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid in Pakistan should be a wake-up call about the risks the disease poses
Eradicating typhoid: A realistic goal?
- Last year saw the development of a domestically produced vaccine, sparking renewed hopes that the disease may be eradicated in the near future
- This is a matter of concern in India as hygiene practices are often overlooked, both in the home and in the settings such as hospitals and schools – exacerbated by a lack of sanitation infrastructure
Ireland Confirms 23 Typhoid Fever Cases
- XDR typhoid fever has been identified in Ireland for the first time
- According to the Irish authorities on October 9, 2019, there have been 23 cases of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) in 2019
- Unfortunately, 3 of these 12 cases of typhoid fever with travel history in Pakistan were infected with extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains
Tomatoes linked to Salmonella outbreak in Sweden; 71 infected
- Illnesses were recorded in all age groups with 46 women and 25 men ill
- Analysis of the Salmonella bacterial genome showed disease cases were related and it is likely they were infected by the same source
- The outbreak strain has multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis (MLVA) pattern 3-12-11-N-211
