Typhoid Fever 'Superbug' Spreading Around the World
An antibiotic-resistant strain of typhoid has spread around the world in recent years, causing health officials to lately sound the alarm.
While the disease can be prevented by a vaccine and treated with antibiotics, it can also prove fatal in up to 20 percent of patients who go untreated.
A single family of waterborne bacteria responsible for the disease, called H58, has not only developed resistance to multiple antibiotics, but it has become the dominant strain in many of the poorer countries in which about 30 million people become infected each year.
The Salmonella Typhi bacteria is contracted by drinking or eating contaminated material, and causes symptoms that include fever, nausea, abdominal pain and pink spots on the chest.
Outbreaks have been reported this year in western India, Zambia and Uganda.
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