Typhoid News
Sindh govt to launch anti-typhoid vaccination drive
- For the very first time in its history, the Sindh government has decided to launch an anti-typhoid vaccination drive across the province, including Karachi.
- Typhoid-conjugated vaccine (TCV) will be included in the government’s existing Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) by the end of November this year.
Austria hit by Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria outbreaks
- Officials in Austria are investigating three different outbreaks caused by Salmonella, E. coli and Listeria
- The Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES) reported the source of the Salmonella outbreak has been identified but the vehicle of infection for the E. coli and Listeria outbreaks are still unknown
- Investigations into all the foodborne outbreaks were carried out by AGES, the Federal Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection (BMASGK) and state authorities
Hyderabad: In 2 months, 16,000 down with diarrhoea, 1,300 contract typhoid
- Enteric fevers, especially typhoid, are on the rise in Hyderabad as also are diarrhoea and Hepatitis A. In the last two months, 1,301 enteric fever cases have been reported in the city, while over 16,178 cases of diarrhoea (including gastroenteritis cases) have been reported.
- Open drainage in several parts of the city is making matters worse by causing mixing of rainwater with dirty water. “Waterlogging, poorly fitted manholes and rusting drinking water pipelines contribute to the problem too. We are in touch with the GHMC to identify such areas”, said a senior official from the state health department.
Automatically chlorinating water cuts child diarrhoea by almost a quarter in urban Bangladesh
- A novel water treatment device that delivers chlorine automatically via public taps without the need for electricity, reduced child diarrhoea by 23% compared with controls (156 cases out of 2,073 child measurements [7.5%] vs 216/2,145 [10%]) over 14 months in two urban neighbourhoods of Bangladesh, according to a randomised trial following more than 1,000 children published in The Lancet Global Health journal.
- Clean water is still a major problem in poor urban communities in low-income countries, where contamination by bacteria can lead to high rates of diarrhoeal diseases such as cholera and typhoid, harming children’s health and growth.
- Worldwide, an estimated one billion people who have access to piped water are drinking water that does not meet international safety standards.
Typhoid eruption gives Zimbabwe a health scare
- Zimbabwean civil society organisations have accused the government of violating citizens’ rights following the outbreak of typhoid affecting hundreds of people.
- More than 800 cases of the water borne disease have been recorded this year in some high density areas of the capital city, Harare.
- The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Community Water Alliance (CWA) expressed dismay. CWA and ZLHR reported that over the years, they had repeatedly highlighted the key drivers of the outbreak of typhoid and other waterborne diseases to government.
Water, food-borne infections on the rise in Potohar region
- Rawalpindi: The incidences of water and food-borne diseases including gastroenteritis, viral hepatitis (A&E), typhoid and paratyphoid fever and dysentery along with a number of other monsoon related health threats are on the rise since the setting-in of hot and humid weather in this region of the country.
- Data collected by The News has revealed that not less than 10000 patients with water and food-borne diseases are reporting at the allied hospitals and PIMS every week and experts believe that the burden may increase if effective prevention and control measures are not adopted seriously both at community and individual levels.
- According to estimates, almost every fifth patient reaching public sector healthcare facilities is with water or food-borne infection.
Climate change on the agenda at Pacific health ministers’ meeting
- The Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt heads to French Polynesia next week, becoming Australia’s first minister to visit the islands in more than 20 years.
- He’s travelling to meet other health ministers from across the Pacific, with climate change set to be high on the agenda.
- Today, a new report warns global warming is already affecting the health of people living in the Pacific, with an increase in deaths caused by extreme weather events and a growing risk posed by diseases like cholera and typhoid.
Spurt in waterborne diseases
- Gurugram: With the arrival of monsoon, the number of patients suffering from gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid and hepatitis has witnessed a sudden spurt.
- According to doctors, there has been a 30 per cent increase in the number of patients in July.
- The doctors said such diseases increase during the monsoon because of warm and humid conditions in which harmful pathogen multiply fast in food.
- Avoiding eating food cooked in open and drinking only filtered water or boiled water can prevent catching infections. Experts also recommended having a healthy diet to boost immunity as frequent changes in temperature can make the body susceptible to infections.
Zimbabwe: More than 850 typhoid cases reported in Harare
- Officials in the capital city of Zimbabwe, Harare report seeing 858 new typhoid cases in the last six months, with the suburbs of Glen View and Budiriro hit the hardest according to a report in The Herald. No deaths have been recorded.
- The reason for the outbreak is due to its failure to constantly supply clean water and delays in attending to sewer bursts or leakages, local authorities state.
- Harare Town Clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango said, “The drivers for water-borne diseases (cholera and typhoid) have been water cuts or availability of municipal water, contaminated, sewer bursts or leakages, use of shallow wells, illegal vending of cooked food, attending gatherings during an outbreak, poor hygiene practices and household contact to a case.”
Six out of 48 wards constitute 55% of Ahmedabad’s typhoid cases
- The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has recorded 55% of total typhoid cases in six wards of the city till July 20. All the 48 wards put together recorded 430 cases, compared to 465 in entire July in previous year.
- AMC sources say inadequate and old water supply network is the major cause of contamination of water, leading to the spread of typhoid.
- However, seven wards recorded a disproportionate number of typhoid cases. These include Vatva (88), Asarva (46), Gomtipur (29), Saraspur-Rakhial (26), Naroda (24) and Amraiwadi (23). An AMC source said that a disproportionate number of cases in specific wards is because the water supply system there is weak, compelling citizens to use pump sets to pump water, leading to contamination in the water.
With 3-tier surveillance, top Indian scientist gets ready to battle typhoid
- Gagandeep Kang is obsessed with data. From her early days as a student in Vellore’s Christian Medical College (CMC) in the 90s to building a nationwide network of surveillance centres for rotavirus, one of the major causes of diarrhoea in India, through the 2000s,the 56-year-old scientist has long identified the need for quality data to build medical public policy.
- Now, Kang – who in April became the first woman from India to become a fellow of the prestigious Royal Society in London – is building the disease burden case for typhoid, which kills around 200,000 people annually, most of them in India.
- Kang and her associates at CMC and Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, have built a three-tier surveillance system, spanning small catchment hospitals in rural areas to major cities.
Water-borne diseases see uptick in Delhi after rains
- With Delhi monsoon finally setting in, doctors across the city have started noting an increase in gastro-intestinal infections such as diarrhoea, jaundice, and typhoid, and sporadic cases of dengue and malaria.
- “The number started increasing from last week; there has been around a 30% increase in the number of patients with gastrointestinal diseases in my clinic. I also have a patients with suspected dengue. This usually happens every monsoon,” said Dr Srikant Sharma, senior consulting physician at Moolchand Hospital. And, the numbers are likely to go up in the coming weeks.
- To prevent gastro-intestinal infections, doctors suggest following good hand-hygiene, drinking only boiled or properly filtered water, and avoid eating cut fruits or drinking juices from street-side vendors.
CDC confirms first clustered typhoid cases this year
- Three people living in the same home in northern Taiwan were confirmed to be the first clustered cases of typhoid fever this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
- A woman in her 30s, her young child and an Indonesian nurse in her 30s were confirmed to have the disease on July 2, Tuesday last week and Wednesday last week respectively, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Guo Hung-wei said.
- They had not visited any other countries recently, nor had they socialized with other foreign domestic workers in the area, he said.
Two million in Zimbabwe’s capital have no water as city turns off taps
- More than two million residents around Zimbabwe’s capital have no access to running water, as drought and breakdowns push the city system to collapse.
- Just 50% of 4.5 million people in Harare and four satellite towns currently have access to the municipal water supply, the city authority told Climate Home News.
- Dr Jean-Marie Kileshye from WaterNet warned Harare’s water was highly polluted: “Water-borne diseases linked to these boreholes are on the rise, but people have had to take in their own hands water supply because the utility has failed to provide water.”
Taking on Typhoid
- Government hospitals across Punjab are filled with typhoid patients. Community health officials, take notice.
- Typhoid fever is caused by the Salmonella bacteria which has been a human pathogen for thousands of years. Typhoid fever in its early stages is amenable to medical treatment but when left untreated the typhoid bug attacks the intestine causing it to tear, making it a surgical emergency. Every day, patients with typhoid-induced intestinal perforations are treated in operation theatres across Pakistan.
- Why do we have such a towering typhoid patient population? The bug responsible for typhoid fever thrives in conditions like improper sanitation, unclean drinking water, poor hygiene, overcrowding and social chaos — all of which are widespread in our developing society.
Poor waste management making bacteria harder to kill
- Birds perched on trees eye piles of uncollected mounds of garbage, the playgrounds of rats scampering in and out of the dirt. To the naked eye, this is the routine of life, several parts of the ecosystem co-existing.
- However, beneath the surface is the constant war between bacteria, fighting to occupy space and depose each other. And this battle has implications on health, as people interact with the elements in that battle.
- Eric Fevre, an infectious diseases expert and researcher at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) spends his days getting to the bottom of that battle (how the interaction between the environment, animals and people affect human health) by researching anti-microbial resistance – the scientific term describing how disease-causing pathogens such as bacteria, are evolving to become too strong to be killed by antibiotics.
Hospitals record ‘unusual’ spurt in cases of typhoid
- Hospitals in Gurgaon recorded a high number of cases of typhoid fever in summer months this year, with experts labelling the situation ‘unusual’ as every year, cases start appearing around August and September, during the monsoon.
- The Civil Hospital reported more than 120 hospital admissions due to the life-threatening infection and more received than 300 cases in its outpatient department (OPD) between May 1 and June 30 , according to official data. Last year, the number had crossed 100 only around August while May and June had recorded less than 50 cases, officials said.
- Dr. Satish Koul, senior consultant, internal medicine at Narayana Hospital, said the hospital saw more than eight patients with the disease every day in May and June, while in the same period last year, it saw only about two patients a day.
Glen View Hit By Typhoid Outbreak
- Glen View high-density suburb in Harare has been hit by a typhoid outbreak, the Harare City Council said on Thursday.
- Rights groups have warned that the situation may get worse because of a shortage of clean drinking water in the area.
- Council spokesperson Michael Chideme advised Glen View residents to practice hygiene and treat drinking water regardless of the source.
- Community Water alliance programmes manager, Hardlife Mudzingwa, told the Daily News that the Glen View typhoid outbreak was traced to an unprotected well.
Advanced BioNutrition Announces Collaboration with the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) of the University of Maryland School of Medicine to Develop a Heat-resistant Formulation of CVD’s Live Oral Salmonella Paratyphi A Vaccine
- Advanced BioNutrition Corp. (ABN), a leading provider of advanced stabilization and delivery solutions across the health and nutrition, agriculture, and biopharma industries, announced today that it is collaborating with Myron M. Levine, MD, DTPH, Simon and Bessie Grollman Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD), to test a new formulation of a live oral Salmonella Paratyphi A vaccine to prevent paratyphoid fever.
- ABN’s breakthrough stabilization technology platform holds promise for reducing cold chain reliance and improving access to life-saving vaccines.
- The development of a non-refrigerated vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce the estimated 3.4 million cases of paratyphoid fever and approximately 322,000 deaths caused annually by Salmonella Paratyphi A, according to the World Health Organization.
Malir locality suffers from outbreak of extensively drug resistant typhoid: Drug resistant typhoid claims two lives in Karachi
- Health authorities are planning to launch a mass vaccination drive against typhoid fever in Karachi after two children died due to Extensively Drug Resistant (XDR) Typhoid in Sheedi Goth area of Malir district in Karachi this week, health officials said on Tuesday, adding as many as 122 cases of typhoid fever were reported from the area since June 18.
- “Two young girls including 12-year old Shazadi and 9-year old Irum died due typhoid in the Sheedi Goth (village) of Malir District last week. Both the children had typhoid and died during treatment. The entire village is in the grip of typhoid and so far, we have taken samples of 122 people, mostly children for analysis”, said Dr. Ahmed Ali Memon, District Health Officer (DHO) Malir while talking to The News on Tuesday.
- Several areas of Sindh are in the grip of the extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid including Karachi, which authorities say, is rapidly getting out of control due to poor sanitary conditions, contaminated drinking water and lack of proper treatment facilities.
- According to unofficial figures, several dozen deaths were reported from different parts of the province from the superbug that is resistant to the most known antibiotics.
