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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]
Asymptomatic carriers play a critical role in the transmission of common infectious diseases such as typhoid, HIV, C. difficile, influenzas, cholera, tuberculosis, and COVID-19, [2] although the latter is often associated with "robust T-cell immunity" in more than a quarter of patients studied. [3]
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]
Typhoid Mary, pictured above in a 1909 tabloid, was a famous case of a subclinical infection of Salmonella enterica serovar. A subclinical infection —sometimes called a preinfection or inapparent infection —is an infection by a pathogen that causes few or no signs or symptoms of infection in the host . [ 1 ]
Rickettsia typhi is a flea-borne disease organism and is widely distributed throughout the world. [18] There are two cycles in R. typhi transmission from animal reservoirs to human: a classic rat-flea-rat cycle, and a peridomestic cycle involving cats, dogs, opossums, sheep, and their fleas. [7]
An infectious disease agent can be transmitted in two ways: as horizontal disease agent transmission from one individual to another in the same generation (peers in the same age group) [3] by either direct contact (licking, touching, biting), or indirect contact through air – cough or sneeze (vectors or fomites that allow the transmission of the agent causing the disease without physical ...
No rapid laboratory tests are available to diagnose rickettsial diseases early in the course of illness, and serologic assays usually take 10–12 days to become positive. Research is indicating that swabs of eschars may be used for molecular detection of rickettsial infections. [6] [7]
More virulent strains of O. tsutsugamushi can cause hemorrhaging and intravascular coagulation. Morbilliform rash, eschar, splenomegaly, and lymphadenopathies are typical signs. Leukopenia and abnormal liver function tests are commonly seen in the early phase of the illness. Pneumonitis, encephalitis, and myocarditis occur in the late phase of ...