Typhoid Disease Definition, Reason, Symptoms, Treatment & Prevention
Understanding
Typhus or also called typhoid fever is a bacterial infection that can spread throughout the body and affect many organs.
Without prompt treatment, it can cause serious complications and can be fatal.
Typhoid fever generally attacks people in the age group of 5 – 30 years.
Symptoms
In fact, the symptoms of typhus vary. However, you should start being alert to these health problems if you have these signs:
- fever for more than a week and is not relieved by the use of antipyretics. Fever can also get higher gradually every day, and if left untreated, can last up to 3 weeks
- weak
- headache
- joint pain
- pain in the muscles of the body
- stomach feels bloated or painful
- diarrhea or difficulty defecating
- nausea and vomiting
- cough
- weight loss or loss of appetite
- looked agitated
Reason
You need to know, typhoid appears due to a bacterial infection called Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi A, B, or C.
Generally, incubation is around 3 – 60 days. This disease can be transmitted from feces to the mouth or fecal-oral.
For example, these germs or bacteria are in the dirt that flies carry. Then, the bacteria that cause typhus are left on the food you eat.
Risk Factors
The risk factors for typhoid fever are:
- countries with poor sanitation and limited access to clean water
- working in or traveling to an area where typhoid fever is common
- the age of children, its relation to the immune system which is still susceptible to infection
- work in or travel to an area where typhoid fever occurs
- close contact with someone who is infected or has recently been infected with typhoid fever
- drinking water or food contaminated by sewage containing Salmonella typhi
Diagnosis
Typhoid can be diagnosed through a series of stages. Here’s an explanation.
Medical Interview
Interviews or anamesis were carried out in detail, which included a history of complaints experienced, as well as other risk factors.
For example, a history of food consumption with poor hygiene.
Complete Physical Examination
On physical examination, you can find a dirty tongue (looks white in the middle and redness on the edges and tip), enlargement of the stomach (hepatomegaly, splenomegaly), rashes on the skin.
Body temperature and other vital signs are also checked.
Widal test
The Widal test is an agglutination test that detects the presence of serum agglutinins (H and O) in the serum of patients with typhoid and paratyphoid fever.
Where facilities for culture are not available, the Widal test is reliable and can be used to diagnose typhoid fever in endemic areas.
IgG dan IgM Salmonella typhi
This is an immunochromatographic assay for a rapid, qualitative and differential test for the detection of IgG and IgM antibodies to Salmonella typhi in human serum, plasma, or whole blood.
Examination of culture/blood culture and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
Both are the gold standard definitive tests that can be performed to identify bacteria.
However, this method is rarely done because it takes a long time and costs are quite high.
After all, in general, typhoid can be diagnosed from general symptoms and other tests that are simpler.
Treatment
If someone is suspected of having typhus, it is advisable to go to the doctor immediately. Typhoid patients can be treated by general practitioners.
If treated, can be handled by a specialist in internal medicine. If the infection occurs in children, it can be handled by a pediatrician.
If you have been diagnosed with typhoid fever, you will generally get the following treatment.
- Bed rest
- Adequate nutritional intake for sufferers. If the patient has difficulty eating due to nausea and vomiting, additional intake can be given through intravenous fluids as directed by the doctor.
- Administer antibiotics according to the doctor’s recommendations, taking into account the degree of severity of the disease and individual sensitivity to these antibiotics.
- Administration of fever-reducing drugs.
- Administration of drugs for other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, bowel obstruction, and so on, according to the complaints experienced by the patient.
Related Drugs
Some typhoid drugs that doctors usually prescribe include:
Paracetamol
Paracetamol is an antipyretic drug that can be used to reduce fever in typhus.
Ciprofloxacin
This drug is often used to treat typhus in non-pregnant adults in the United States. You can also use drugs that are similar to ciprofloxacin, namely ofloxacin.
Unfortunately, many Salmonella typhi bacteria are no longer resistant to this type of antibiotic, especially the strains found in Southeast Asia.
Azithromycin
What happens if you can’t use ciprofloxacin or the bacteria can’t be eradicated effectively? You can take azithromycin as a substitute.
Ceftriaxone
This injectable antibiotic is an alternative for infections that are more severe or cannot take ciprofloxacin, such as in children.
Prevention
The best treatment is prevention. Here are some ways to prevent typhus.
- Avoid endemic areas or many affected by typhus.
- Ensuring sanitary hygiene in the living environment.
- Avoid snacking carelessly, especially those that are not good hygiene.
- Avoid consuming raw food.
- Always wash your hands.
- Vaccination.
Complications
If not handled properly, typhoid fever can also cause complications, both in the digestive tract, liver, heart, or nervous system.
The two most common complications of untreated typhoid fever are:
- internal bleeding in the digestive system
- perforation of part of the digestive system or intestine, which spreads infection to nearby tissues
Other complications include hepatitis, cholecystitis, myocarditis, shock, encephalopathy, pneumonia, and anemia.