[SPUTNIKNEWS] Pakistain on Friday began vaccinating millions of children against typhoid fever, a dangerous bacterial infection that can spread through contact or contaminated food and water, in an effort to contain a drug-resistant outbreak of the disease that has infected around 11,000 people since 2016.
The new vaccine that is being distributed can prevent typhoid fever infection for up to five years. Health practitioners began administering the shot in the southern Sindh province to children aged between nine months and 15 years old, Rooters reported. Officials plan for the new vaccine to become part of routine childhood immunizations by 2021.
"Beginning the vaccination in urban areas is critical in preventing the disease among the communities most at risk," Azra Fazal Pechuho, Sindh’s provincial minister for health, said in a statement, Rooters reported.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), typhoid fever is a life-threatening illness caused by the Salmonella Typhi bacteria.
Symptoms include weakness, stomach pain, headache, diarrhea or constipation, cough and loss of appetite. It can also cause pink spots on the chest. The disease is especially threatening to children in developing countries.
| Typhoid is spread by eating or drinking food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person. So wash your hands regularly with soap when you go to such countries, and don’t drink the water. |
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