Over 19,000 typhoid cases reported in Sindh in three years

KARACHI: In 23 districts of Sindh 19,506 cases of typhoid fever have been reported in last three years, the provincial health department said in a report.

These cases were reported from November 2016 till this month, Sindh health department said.

A two-week Typhoid vaccination drive against Extensively Drug-Resistant bacteria strain has started across the province from last Monday.

According to the health department, over 10 million children, aged between nine months to fifteen years, will be vaccinated during the drive in 462 union councils across the province.

In the first two days 1.8 million children were vaccinated in the province, health officials said.

The immunization campaign has also been underway in 192 union councils of Karachi, according to the officials.

The immunization drive will continue in the province until Nov. 30, the health department said.

A newly-developed shot designed to prevent typhoid fever infection for up to five years, is targeted at children between 9 months to 15 years, officials said.

By 2021, it will become a nationwide program and part of routine child vaccination schedules.

“Beginning the vaccination in urban areas is critical in preventing the disease among the communities most at risk,” Azra Fazal Pechuho, Sindh’s provincial minister for health, earlier said in a statement.

Typhoid is caused by Salmonella Typhi bacteria and spreads through contaminated food and water. It causes fever, nausea, stomach pain and pink spots on the chest, and in severe cases can lead to complications in the gut and head that can be fatal.

A Global Burden of Disease study by the U.S. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that in 2017 there were 11 million typhoid cases and 116,000 typhoid deaths worldwide.

The typhoid outbreak in Pakistan is caused by a bacterial strain that has evolved extensive drug resistance and become a so-called “superbug”. It started in 2016 and has so far infected around 11,000 people, with a death rate of around one percent.