Typhoid Symptoms in Kids and Signs of Recovery

You all might have suffered from a fever. There are many reasons for fever. One of them is Typhoid. Typhoid is an infectious bacterial disease that mainly spreads through contaminated food or water. It can also spread due to poor hygienic conditions. Salmonella typhi is the bacterium responsible for this disease and humans are the only carriers. In the early 1900s, the United States reported its first case of typhoid fever. Approximately 21 million people worldwide contract this illness each year, and 200,000 instances result in death. Now, we are going to see about typhoid in detail. We will cover the topics like typhoid symptoms in kids,  why typhoid attacks, and causes of typhoid.

 A patient with Typhoid

What Causes Typhoid Fever?

The bacterium Salmonella typhi is what causes typhoid fever. By consuming food or drinking water that has been tainted by a patient or carrier of the sickness, the bacteria can be spread from one person to another. The infected person's stool contains the bacterium.

There is a famous story about typhoid. This story is of a lady named Mary Mallon. Mary Mallon, often known as Typhoid Mary, was an American chef of Irish descent who is thought to have exposed 51 to 122 persons to typhoid illness. With estimations of up to 50 for unconfirmed mortality, the illnesses resulted in three verified fatalities.

Causes of Typhoid

By consuming or drinking infected food or water, one can get typhoid fever. Stool from sick people, which has a high concentration of bacteria, can contaminate the local water supply and can become a reason for typhoid. Food supply contamination due to water supply contamination is possible. The bacteria can stay and grow in water or dried sewage for weeks.

After the severe sickness, between 3 and 5% of persons develop germs as carriers. Others go undiagnosed because they have a relatively little ailment. Even though they show no symptoms, these individuals may become long-term carriers of the germs and, for many years, serve as the source of fresh typhoid fever outbreaks.

Salmonella Typhi 

Symptoms of Typhoid

The illness lasts for 3–4 weeks and often has an incubation period of 1–2 weeks. These signs include the following:

• Lack of appetite

• Headaches

• Various aches and pains throughout

• Fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or higher

• Lethargy

• Diarrhoea

Symptoms of Typhoid

Many patients have chest congestion as well as frequent stomach pain and discomfort. As the fever persists, in people with no issues, improvement happens in the third and fourth week. After feeling better for one to two weeks, 10% of patients experience recurrence symptoms. Relapses are more frequent in people using antibiotics.

Treatment for Typhoid in India

Antibiotics are used to treat typhoid fever because they eliminate the Salmonella germs. 20 percent of patients died before antibiotics were used. Intestinal bleeding, pneumonia, overpowering infection, or intestinal perforation all resulted in death. Mortality has been cut in half to between 1 and 2 per cent with the use of supportive treatment and antibiotics. With the proper antibiotic therapy, healing often occurs in seven to ten days after improvement occurs within one to two days.

Typhoid fever can be effectively treated with several drugs. For many years, chloramphenicol was the first medication of choice. Other powerful antibiotics have taken the role of chloramphenicol due to its uncommonly severe adverse effects.

By determining the location of the infection, the selection of antibiotics is influenced (certain strains from South America show significant resistance to some antibiotics). Patients receive antibiotic treatment once again if relapses take place. It will show signs of recovery from typhoid.

Prolonged antibiotic therapy is an option for those who develop chronic illness (about 3 percent to 5 percent of infected people). Frequently, the gallbladder must be removed because it is the source of the chronic infection. Vaccines are now accessible for people travelling to high-risk areas.

Summary

Typhoid is an infectious disease. It spreads through contaminated food and water. Fever is the most common symptom of typhoid. In this article, we discussed typhoid fever, why typhoid attacks, and what are the causes and reasons for typhoid fever. Symptoms of Typhoid were discussed in depth along with the treatment provided, particularly in India. It is an infection that spreads through contaminated food and water. The treatment of Typhoid available in India is also discussed in depth in this article. Typhoid can be treated with the help of antibiotics. I hope this article will clear all your doubts regarding typhoid. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comment section.