Pakistan: Nearly 3,000 typhoid cases in Karachi year-to-date

By NewsDesk @bactiman63

Karachi, Pakistan health officials are reporting 2,982 typhoid cases in the city through May 14, according to a Pakistan Today report.

Of this total, 1765 are typhoid/paratyphoid fever and 1217 are Ceftriaxone-Resistant Salmonella typhi.

Deputy Director, Directorate Health Services Karachi, Dr Arif Niaz said the number of typhoid cases had been increasing day by day in the city due to the consumption of contaminated water and poor sanitation conditions. Cases are being reported from all areas of the city.

The World Health Organization reported at the end of 2018 that more than 5,200 extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid cases in Sindh province since 2016.

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.

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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.

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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.