More often than not, the experience for patients with a fever is to get tested and treated for a typhoid infection. The test is a rapid blood test called the Widal test. The subsequent treatment usually consists of tablets, typically in urban areas, or injections in rural ones.
Typhoid spreads through contaminated food and water and is caused by Salmonella typhi and other related bacteria. Also known as enteric fever, it presents with a high fever, stomach pain, weakness, and other symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, and a rash. Some people, called carriers, may remain symptom-free and shed the bacteria in their stool for several months to years.
These symptoms mimic those of malaria, dengue, influenza, and typhus, to name a few, each with different treatment modalities. If left untreated, typhoid can be life-threatening. Per the World Health Organisation, 90 lakh people are diagnosed worldwide with typhoid every year and 1.1 lakh die of it. A small 2023 study reported the burden to be 576-1173 cases per 100,000 child-years (one child year is one child being followed up for one year) in urban areas and 35 per 100,000 child years in rural Pune.
