Cebu reports typhoid fever in Badian town
Typhoid has sickened at least five people in the 3rd class municipality of Badian in southern Cebu, Philippines, prompting authorities to test the water supply that serves the area, according to a GMA News report Wednesday.
Image/The Coffee via Wikimedia Commons
While confirmation testing is in progress, health officials are reminding residents to boil their drinking water.
Typhoid fever is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi. Salmonella typhi lives only in humans. Persons with typhoid fever carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract. In addition, a small number of persons, called carriers, recover from typhoid fever but continue to carry the bacteria. Both ill persons and carriers shed S.typhi in their feces.
The symptoms for typhoid fever include a high fever, headaches, diarrhea or constipation, stomach pains, weakness, and loss of appetite. In some cases a flat, rose-coloured rash may appear on the torso.
You can get typhoid fever if you eat food or drink beverages that have been handled by a person who is shedding S. typhi or if sewage contaminated with S. typhi bacteria gets into the water you use for drinking or washing food. Therefore, typhoid fever is more common in areas of the world where handwashing is less frequent and water is likely to be contaminated with sewage.
Learn more about typhoid fever in this educational video
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