Pakistan faces new health challenge after drug-resistant typhoid outbreak

A new strain of typhoid has been spreading across Pakistan, which is resistant to five types of antibiotics and has infected at least 850 people in the last two years.

According to the National Institute of Health Islamabad, the drug-resistant strain of typhoid is likely to spread globally. The strain, which is resistant to five types of antibiotics, is predicted to replace the weaker strains in areas where they are common.

Only one oral antibiotic named Azithromycin remains to combat this typhoid strain. However, just a genetic mutation could soon end its effect, reported the Daily Mail.

Doctors fear that this resistance is a threat to modern medicine. A pathology professor at the Aga Khan University Hospital said, “This isn’t just about typhoid. Antibiotic resistance is a threat to all of modern medicine — and the scary part is, we’re out of options.”

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Typhoid is a common disease prevailing in Pakistan because of its low vaccination, overpopulated areas and poor infrastructure. An infectious disease geneticist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in England, Dr. Elizabeth Klemm, revealed that only four isolated cases of extensively drug-resistance had been reported worldwide and the cause was found in the sewage lines in Hyderabad where the victims were residing.

According to the New York Times, four deaths have been reported till now from Hyderabad. In the United Kingdom, there has been a single travel-related case detected.

In order to prevent this disease, health officials have launched a campaign to vaccinate 250,000 children in Hyderabad. These officials are using a new typhoid conjugate vaccine, Typbar-TCV, recently pre-qualified by the World Health Organization.

Preventative measures are also being promoted by the health officials such as boiling drinking water, hygiene and vaccination.