How to Prevent & Treat Monsoon Diseases? (Part 2)- Typhoid
Under the series of ‘How to Prevent & Treat Monsoon Diseases’,
today we are going to talk about 2nd disease that is –‘Typhoid’.
Please don’t ignore if you are having fever-
it might be ‘Typhoid’.
If your Typhoid doesn’t get treated on time,
it may lead to serious complication of Intestinal Bleeding.
Your intestinal bleeding will dead to –
sudden drop in your blood pressure, or shock
& blood in your stool.
You may have Typhoid if you are suffering from-
- Continuous high grade fever for more than a week
- Headache and muscle pain
- Stomachache
- Red spot on your belly
- Loss of appetite
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Exhaustion
How Typhoid spreads?
Typhoid spreads through faeco-oral route.
That is,- faeces & urine from patient or carrier contaminates water & soil.
They also spread through flies & fingers of patients & carrier.
They contaminate your food either raw or cooked.
&, when you have this contaminated food, you get infected by Typhoid.
You should be extra cautious about ice-cream and milk.
Once infected, the bacteria of Typhoid can survive on
Ice & ice-cream for over a month.
The Typhoid bacteria can easily contaminate your milk &
grow rapidly without altering its taste.
Once you get these Typhoid bacteria in your body,
Typhoid usually appears within 10 to 14 days.
However, you may get Typhoid in a short duration of
3 days or as long as within 21 days depending on
the dose of bacteria that has entered your body.
Who is at Risk?
The age group that is at highest risk of getting
infected by Typhoid is 5 to 19 years.
That means you should be extra cautious if
your child is studying in school or college.
An infected person can carry these bacteria
for very long period of time.
There is a famous example of Mary Mallon.
She was a cook in New York in early 1900s.
As she was infected with Typhoid bacteria & she was a cook,
she gave rise to more than 1300 cases of Typhoid in her life!
Treatment of Typhoid:
The only effective treatment for Typhoid is
medicine prescribed by your doctor.
Other than medicine, you should rehydrate
yourself by drinking adequate water.
In more severe cases where bowel has been perforated,
surgery may be required.
How to prevent this Typhoid?
- Wash your hand regularly especially before
cooking & before your meal
- Use boiled water
- Avoid restaurant with poor hygiene
- Wash fruits & vegetables properly before use
- Keep your home & surrounding clean
Simple hand hygiene and washing
can reduce several cases of Typhoid.
I know, you may know this, but
at this time, when I am writing this,
my maid is having high grade fever &
one of my clinical assistant’s brother
is also having high grade fever.
So, please convey this message to
your maids, servants & cook as well.
That’s all for today.
See you next Tuesday with another Tuesday Tip,
till then, Take care…
Providing simple solutions
for the complexities of life-
Dr Bhumita Makwana
Your Dietitian & Cosmetic Clinician