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Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi bacteria, also called Salmonella typhi. [2] [3] Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. [4] [5] Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several days. [4]
The name comes from the Greek tûphos (τῦφος), meaning 'hazy' or 'smoky' and commonly used as a word for delusion, describing the state of mind of those infected. [7] While typhoid means 'typhus-like', typhus and typhoid fever are distinct diseases caused by different types of bacteria, the latter by specific strains of Salmonella typhi. [8]
During the Spanish–American War, American troops were exposed to typhoid fever in stateside training camps and overseas, largely due to inadequate sanitation systems. The Surgeon General of the Army, George Miller Sternberg , suggested that the War Department create a Typhoid Fever Board.
Typhoid fever causes 11 million infections and more than 100,000 deaths per year, and is most prevalent in south Asia – which accounts for 70% of the global disease burden.
Diagnosis of continuous fever is usually based on the clinical signs and symptoms but some biological tests, chest X-ray and CT scan are also used. [2] Typhoid fever is an example of continuous fever and it shows a characteristic step-ladder pattern, a step-wise increase in temperature with a high plateau.
Typhoid is contracted by drinking or eating contaminated matter and symptoms include nausea, fever, abdominal pain and pink spots on the chest. Drug-resistant 'superbug' strain of typhoid spreads ...
The Widal test, developed in 1896 and named after its inventor, Georges-Fernand Widal, is an indirect agglutination test for enteric fever or undulant fever whereby bacteria causing typhoid fever are mixed with a serum containing specific antibodies obtained from an infected individual.
Typhoid Mary in a 1909 newspaper illustration. Mary Mallon was an asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella typhi who is thought to have infected 53 others with typhoid fever while continuing her work as a cook. An asymptomatic carrier is a person or other organism that has become infected with a pathogen, but shows no signs or symptoms. [1]