What is Typhoid Fever and How does it spread?
Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria. People who are actively ill with typhoid fever and people who are carriers of the bacteria that cause typhoid fever can both spread the bacteria to other people. Travelers can become infected through contaminated food and water through close contact with someone who’s infected.
What is Typhoid Vaccine and Why should Travelers get the vaccine?
There are two vaccines to prevent typhoid fever. One is an inactivated (killed) vaccine and the other is alive, attenuated (weakened) vaccine. Your health care provider can help you decide which type of typhoid vaccine is best for you.
Who should get Typhoid Vaccine?
People traveling to places where typhoid fever is common, such as South Asia, especially India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh should take the vaccination Typhoid vaccines to lose effectiveness over time. The injectable vaccine requires a booster every 2 years, and the oral vaccine requires a booster every 5 years. If you were vaccinated in the past, ask your doctor if it is time for a booster vaccination. Taking antibiotics will not prevent typhoid fever; they only help treat it.
Typhoid Fever Symptoms
- WFever
- WChills
- WSevere Headache
- WNausea
- WIn severe cases, jaundice, bleeding or even organ failure.
What can travelers do to prevent the disease?
- Get vaccinated
- Prevent mosquito bites. In case if you are bitten by mosquitoes, avoid scratching mosquito bites and apply hydrocortisone cream or calamine lotion to reduce itching.
- Use mosquito repellents, protective clothing, and mosquito netting when and where required.
