- Typhoid is usually treatable with antibiotics, but resistance to the drugs is increasing, leading to more severe cases and hospitalizations. Pakistan has one of the highest rates of drug-resistant typhoid- more than 15,000 cases officially recorded – with contaminated water and poor sanitation contributing to the spread of the disease.
- Overuse of antibiotics is a significant factor in the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, with global consumption increasing by nearly 50% between 2000 and 2018, particularly in South Asian countries like Pakistan.
- Rapid diagnostic tests, like Typhidot and Widal, often result in false positives, causing unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and contributing to resistance. Despite a ban on these rapid tests, they remain widely used in Pakistan, further driving the spread of drug-resistant typhoid.
- Azithromycin, one of the few remaining effective antibiotics against XDR-typhoid, is starting to lose its effectiveness as doctors observe emerging strains that no longer respond to it.
- “XDR-typhoid is the final warning sign. After this we will enter a stage where the superbug won’t respond to any drugs at all. That means we will go back to when typhoid was a more deadly disease. And that really worries us,” says Jehan Zeb Khan, a clinical pharmacist at Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.
685 West Baltimore Street, Room 480
Baltimore, MD 21201-1509
Baltimore, MD 21201-1509
Washington, DC 20037
© 2018. Coalition Against Typhoid. All Rights Reserved.