Typhoid News

• Liberia on Monday, April 5, became the first country in Africa to introduce the new typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into its Expanded Program for Immunization
• The vaccine will be introduced to children nationwide in April 2021, beginning with a five-day vaccination campaign to reach 1.9 million children from nine months to younger than 15 years of age across Liberia’s 15 counties. This will be followed by introduction of TCV into Liberia’s routine immunization schedule for nine-month-old infants.

• Malaysian doctors are calling on food handlers to ensure they are vaccinated against typhoid before the Ramadan month kicks off.
• “Whilst it is important that our food handlers are mindful in practising good personal hygiene and sanitation such as the good habit of hand-washing with soap, it is equally critical that they are vaccinated against typhoid,” said Dr Marzuki, who is also an associate professor in the department of social and preventive medicine at the University of Malaya.

• Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Tuesday (March 9) announced the country’s first locally acquired case of typhoid fever this year
• The health department is currently investigating the patient’s dietary and contact history while testing those persons who interacted with her to pinpoint the source of the infection

A new strain of Salmonella Typhi that is resistant to the antibiotics typically used to treat typhoid fever had infected at least 71 people in the United States as of Jan. 14, according to CDC, in today’s bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Georgia, Maryland, and Missouri.

• Officials in Singapore are investigating if two typhoid fever cases are linked to eating at a food outlet
• The Ministry of Health (MOH) and Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said two people fell ill after having food prepared by Hooi Kee Eating House on Clemenceau Avenue in Singapore Shopping Centre

• The Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TVC) campaign was continued in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Punjab as part of reaching an overall target of 12.7 million children between the ages of nine months to 15 years
• The TCV drive has been started due to the high number of typhoid cases in the country as more than 8000 cases were reported in the year 2020

• The CDC says Salmonella Typhi is a bacteria which causes Typhoid fever, an illness which is usually acquired during travel and can be treated with antibiotics
• Although normally associated with travel outside of the country, the CDC is warning there are now cases reported among Americans which have not traveled outside the country

• The Fiji Ministry of Health is reporting at least 10 cases of typhoid fever on the island of Vanua Levu
• The cases were reported in the provinces of Cakaudrove and Macuata

• There are six confirmed cases of typhoid in the Northern Division
• Cases from a non-red spot area were because there had been a lot of movement from place to places during the festive season

• Around 226 area Incharges have been trained with the coordinated efforts of UNICEF to monitor the two-week-long anti-typhoid vaccination campaign that would be launched in urban areas of district from February 1 to 15
• Over 18,76,539 children from nine months to 15 years of age would be vaccinated under the Typhoid Prevention Campaign

• Movement of people into cyclone-affected areas is being discouraged after two reports of typhoid cases on Vanua Levu
• Though these cases are not related to STC Yasa, Minister for Health and Medical Services, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete believes preventative measures should be followed to prevent any outbreaks

• The Government of India has registered a patent for the invention of a technology to screen typhoid
• The invention provides a PCR-based diagnostic assay for detection of Typhoid-causing bacteria with higher sensitivity and specificity and is expected to screen Typhoid at a low cost

• At least five people have died from typhoid fever in Neno District
• Neno District Hospital spokesperson Caroline Banda said, apart from registering five cases of death, health officials recorded 56 cases of suspects

• Vi-DT typhoid conjugate vaccine, developed jointly by the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) and SK bioscience, has met the primary endpoints in a phase III study in Nepal
• This study is a significant milestone in an effort to license Vi-DT TCV

• Along with a steep hike in the number of Covid-19 cases, the cases of dengue and typhoid are also on the rise. The health experts have advised the people to take the necessary precautions and avoid visiting markets or other crowded public places
• A considerable number of typhoid cases is being reported from Rohtak and nearby areas, though the record of the typhoid cases was not available with the local Health authorities

• Authorities at a forced labor camp in Dongrim County, North Pyongan Province, have recently suspended family visits and banned outside food from being sent into the camp after an outbreak of paratyphoid and typhoid fever among some of the facility’s inmates, Daily NK has learned
• “In mid-September, more than 20 patients with paratyphoid and typhoid fever appeared at a forced labor camp in Dongrim County,” a source in North Pyongan Province told the Daily NK on Monday
• “The Ministry of Social Security, provincial security bureau, county party committee and county Ministry of Social Security office helped mobilize the local anti-epidemic office and capable doctors to deal with the situation.”

• A new study conducted by IVI in collaboration with SK bioscience shows that single-dose and two-dose regimens of Vi-DT typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) are safe and immunogenic in children 6-23 months of age, a group with high rates of typhoid fever in resource-limited settings
• The findings from this study newly published online in The Lancet’s EClinicalMedicine describe the successful completion and analysis of a Phase II clinical trial of Vi-DT six months after vaccination

• In 2018, a twin cholera and typhoid outbreak hit Zimbabwe’s capital claimed 69 lives and over 10,000 people were affected by the diseases, highlighting the dangers of Harare’s dilapidated water-supply system
• A municipal water system that was built to cater for 300 000 residents in the days of pre-independence Rhodesia must now meet the needs of 2,5 million people

• BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) says it has contained the typhoid and dysentery outbreak that infected nearly 2 000 people and killed 13 in Luveve and surrounding suburbs recently
• In June there was a diarrhoea outbreak in Luveve and surrounding areas which Government attributed to the 144-hour weekly water shedding exercise
• Following the outbreak, Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said human waste beyond the standards allowed by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) contaminated water pipes in Luveve areas, triggering the water-borne diseases

• Preschoolers aged 3-5 are highly vulnerable to typhoid fever, including drug-resistant typhoid
• In an advisory, the NIH, the country’s leading medical research centre, said typhoid fever was endemic in the country
• The NIH said with the treatment options for typhoid becoming more limited, preventive measures, including improved sanitation and vaccination campaigns, were urgently needed