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The typhoid virus affects only human beings. It is transmitted through contaminated food and water. An important source of contamination is shellfish taken from sea beds polluted by sewage. Infection may be transfered to foods by flies and this leads to contamination. If water sources are polluted then epidemics of typhoid fever can erupt when many people use the same source of drinking water.
Typhoid fever may or may not be severe. Severe cases lead to fever, headache, malaise, anorexia and insomnia. Constipation, rather than diarrhea is seen more in adults and older children. If the disease remains untreated then by the third week it may prove fatal.
Outbreak of Typhoid in three different areas of Kenya in 2005 killed 21 people. Typhoid erupted in Kenya in 1997-99 due to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi resistant to ampicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, and cotrimoxazole. Multi drug resistant S. Typhi were identified in people suffering from typhoid in Nairobi, Kenya during 1997-99.
Vaccination against Typhoid is necessary in Kenya. Mosquito repellents should also be used.
Nasike community development and Education center (NACODE) had carried out an Anti-typhoid awareness campaign in Kenya. The results envisage a poor scenario as far a Typhoid is concerned. It is more rampant in the rural western part of Kenya. This can be traced back to the ignorance of the natives who confuse between the symptoms of Typhoid and those of malaria. The campaign aimed to make the people aware of the various aspects related to Typhoid.
Kenya in order to free itself from the Typhoid epidemic should take measures to prevent the population from contracting the disease. Vaccination and maintenance of good hygiene are recommendable.
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