Typhoid

Typhoid is an infection of digestive system caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi, transmitted to the body by faecally contaminated food or water.

Symptoms begin with fever and progress to a rash and profuse diarrhea with blood loss. Untreated, the morality rate is 10% to 15%, the remainder of cases recover after about three weeks, although some 3% becomes chronic carriers without symptoms. The last major epidemic in the UK was in Aberdeen in 1964, when 414 cases occurred. Immunization is achieved with two major injections at an interval of one month, and immunity lasts for five years.