Typhoid is one of the most common diseases affecting people, be it any part of the world. There is no specific age at which a person catches this disease, and it arises mainly because of unhygienic and unclean environments. In developing countries the disease is more common; though there are big areas of the developed countries too that have not been saved from this disease.
The typhoid fever is mainly caused by the Salmonella typhi bacteria which are prevalent in unclean areas such as slums, near sewage canals, near factories etc. The incubation period for this disease ranges from 3 days to 60 days. Transmission of the disease can happen from an infected person to a healthy one via the faecal oral route or via contaminated food and water. This is the reason why health organisations and experts all over the world keep on emphasising on the importance of the supply of clean drinking water.
A vaccination is available against the fever, which you can take in case you are travelling to a country that is prone to have this disease prevalent among people, or if it has unclean environments. Typhoid is endemic in a lot of countries of the world. When a person catches this disease, it leads to a condition wherein there is excessive inflammation of the intestines. In cases when the condition gets worse and the situation is severe, the disease can also turn out to be life threatening.
Symptoms of the disease include conditions of fever, nausea along either severe persistent headache. There is also loss of appetite and the patient tends to cough a lot. The situation can even lead to constipation and diarrhoea. While diarrhoea happens more among the children, constipation occurs more commonly in adult patients. The stomach also faces a lot of pain and discomfort and there can be incidents of excessive pain. There are chills in the body, and there is a general feeling of excessive fatigue and tiredness with a slow heart rate. Till sometime back, antibiotics were used as a treatment method to kill the bacteria. But recently it has been found out that antibiotic restraint strains of bacteria are developing and making the process of treatment more difficult.
There are certain cases when the patients have excessive intestinal bleeding or bowel perforation, which is a very dangerous condition. In such cases, surgical intervention is required; though the method of treatment is such that it reduces the mortality late a lot in case the infection is very severe.
A lot of developing countries of the world are currently taking steps to educate the people about the disease and its causes. They are making people aware about the importance of clean environments and maintaining hygiene, and the states at their end are trying to ensure a clean supply of water that is easily accessible by all. Maintaining cleanliness in areas where one resides, in the process of cooking, and in terms of personal body hygiene, all help a lot to prevent the spread of typhoid.
