Typhoid fever in children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Typhoid fever in children - Essay Example Moreover, typhoid fever usually hits children and young adults aged 5-19 years, although the age range can be much younger to much older (Bhan et al., 2005). Paratyphoid fever, which is a related disease, accounts for 5.4 million sick people worldwide (Crump & Mintz, 2010). Thus, one can see the severity of typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever and the fatalities that they bring. Unless, therefore, there are measures to prevent typhoid fever, there is no way that the situation can be improved. 2.0 HISTORY The Salmonella enteric bacterium has evolved beginning 50,000 years ago and has been known for its â€Å"remarkable mechanisms for persistence† in the human host (Bahn et al., 2005). By the early 20th century in Europe and the United States, the disease has greatly declined because of the improvement in the water supply as well as in the sewage systems. Nevertheless, the disease remained a serious health concern for the public. It was the introduction of chloramphenicol treatme nt that somehow made typhoid fever a manageable infection and not anymore a fatal disease. Nevertheless, in 1972, some chloramphenicol-resistant typhoid fever emerged. This was then countered with new antibiotics – ampicillin, amoxicillin and co-trimoxazole. In the 1980s and the 1990s, some new resistant strains once more emerged and this time they are resistant to chloramphenicol, ampicillin, amoxicillin and co-trimoxazole. The current treatment is now third-generation cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones, although there have also been reported decrease in susceptibility (Bahn et al. 2005). 3.0 SALMONELLA ENTERICA, DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TYPHOID, NON TYPHOID SALMONELLAE AND S. PARATYPHI IN TERMS OF GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Typhoid salmonellae involve the invasion of the gut mucosa located in the terminal ileum either through the M-cells that serve as the epithelium of all gut tissue or through the enterocytes. Through the epithelial receptor called cystic fibrosis transmembrane co nductance regulator protein, the typhoid Salmonellae adhere to the intestinal mucosa in the terminal ileum. On the other hand, non-typhoidal Salmonella leads to the invasion of the non-phagocytic epithelial cells and eventually the peripheral blood leucocytes and the lamina propia. The non-typhoidal Salmonellae then reach the intestinal lymphoid tissue, the mesenteric nodes, the thoracic duct until it causes bacteremia that infects the vital organs of the body within 24 hours. The affected parts could be the spleen, the liver, the bone marrow, as well as other parts of the reticuloendothelial system (Bhan et al., 2005). Typhoid fever is found in India, Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as in Bangladesh and Nepal. Paratyphoid fever, which is less prevalent than typhoid, occurs in India and Nepal (Bhan et al., 2005). 4.0 HOW DOES THE BACTERIA CAUSE A DISEASE? S. typhi causes the disease through the invasion of the gut mucosa in the terminal ileum. Then it enters the mucosa through the M- cells or through the enterocytes (Bhan et al., 2005). As the mucosal barrier is overcome, what follows is bacteremia. Then there is exudative inflammation in the terminal ileum and colon, thus causing diarrhea. What further takes place is interstitial inflammation and decrease