Haiti reports typhoid outbreak in North-East

The Mayor of the commune of Mont-Organisé , in North-East department, said today (computer translated) that Typhoid fever is raging because of the poor quality of the water consumed by the population.

“Several cases of typhoid, but also of malaria, are registered in Mont-Organisé, because the question of water constitutes a crucial problem in Mont-Organisé”, deplores the municipal council of Mont-Organisé.

Health case is limited there and when cases of illness exceed capacity, patients are transferred to other centers in Milot or in Cap-Haitien (North).

Typhoid fever, caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi, is a life-threatening bacterial infection. Typhoid fever is still common in the developing world, where it affects about 21 million people annually.

Salmonella typhi lives only in humans. Persons with typhoid fever carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract. In addition, a small number of persons, called carriers, recover from typhoid fever but continue to carry the bacteria. Both ill persons and carriers shed S.typhi in their feces.

You can get typhoid fever if you eat food or drink beverages that have been handled by a person who is shedding S. typhi or if sewage contaminated with S. typhi bacteria gets into the water you use for drinking or washing food. Therefore, typhoid fever is more common in areas of the world where handwashing is less frequent and water is likely to be contaminated with sewage.



