Typhoid is an acute infectious disease caused by the typhoid bacillus Salmonella typhi which are short rod-shaped bacterium with numerous flagella that helps in active movement . The bacillus is transmitted by milk , water , or solid food contaminated by feces of typhoid victims or of carriers , that is , healthy persons who harbour typhoid bacilli without presenting symptoms . Flies are also agents which transmit this disease.
The incubation period of typhoid fever lasts one to three weeks . The bacteria collect in the small intestine , from which they enter the bloodstream . This induces the first symptoms , chills followed by high fever and prostration . Victims may also experience headache , cough , vomiting and diarrhoea . The disease spontaneously subsides after several weeks in most instances , but in about 20 % of untreated cases the disease progresses to pneumonia, intestinal haemorrhage's and even death .
Deaths from typhoid fever were greatly reduced by the isolation of the first antibiotic effective against the typhoid bacillus, chloromycetin, or chloramphenicol. Some effective measures for the prevention of the disease are public sanitary measures , control of the flies and isolation of the patient . The World Health Organization estimates that globally some 16 million cases of typhoid fever occur annually , causing 600,000 deaths .
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