Typhoid Fever

Every year approximately 12.5 million people around the world are affected by the disease Typhoid, for some, resulting in death. For most people in western society, not much is known about Typhoid, as it is a life-threatening disease found mainly in developing countries. Typhoid is a dangerous infectious disease caused by bacteria and can be spread from person to person, thus those in Western countries usually acquire the disease when travelling. This essay will discuss certain issues relating to Typhoid, including its causes, symptoms and treatment as well as discussing whether a cure would be better than prevention and can this disease be prevented at all. Typhoid is a common disease of developing countries and thus is not often found in industrialised countries such as the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and Japan. For example in the United States, which has a population of about 250 million people, on average, there are only 400 reported cases of Typhoid a year. Seventy percent of these cases result from international travel. Thus many people are educated about the causes and preventions of Typhoid before travelling to developing countries. Typhoid is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi, which only lives in humans. Those with the disease carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract and some of those who recover may continue to carry the disease which can be passed on to others. Both ill persons and carriers shed S. Typhi in their faeces. The bacterium can be spread to a person if they eat food or drink beverages that have been handled by a person who is shedding S. Typhi. It may also be caused by contaminated water, which becomes infected from sewerage. Therefore, typhoid fever is more common in developing countries where hygiene is poor thus spreading the disease and allowing for water to become contaminated easily. Once the Typhoid bacterium enters the body, it multiplies and spreads to