Typhoid is a major health problem, says doctor

TYPHOID fever is a major public health problem in the Eastern Highlands and is mainly associated with poor drinking water, Dr Issac James Tikindi says.
Tikindi from the Goroka Hospital said though typhoid was a major public health concern, there were not enough data on the disease at the hospital.
He said there was a need to gather more data from the cases that were presented at the hospital in order to better understand its spread in the community and addressed it.
He said a study aimed to determine the prevalence, clinical presentation at the time of diagnosis and associated factors of typhoid fever among febrile (fever) patients visiting the Goroka hospital, was conducted.
“A cross-sectional study was conducted from Dec 26, last year to March 19,” he said.
“Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using a structured questionnaire. A blood sample was collected and inoculated into Tryptic soy broth.
“A total of 79 adult febrile patients suspected of typhoid fever were included in the study.
“Of these, the overall prevalence of culture-confirmed typhoid fever was three per cent (52/79).
“The prevalence of typhoid fever was significantly associated with rural residence 6.4 per cent and urban residence was 3.6 per cent.
“The prevalence of typhoid fever was significantly associated with those patients whose water source was spring (16.8 per cent) and river (19.6 per cent).
“All of those study participants who used treated water were culture negative.