Tareen Rahman :
‘A new diagnostic test for typhoid fever has proven accurate in minor children, and could therefore help diagnose patients more accurately and treat them more rapidly’ opined Dr Farhana Khanam to the New Nation recently.
Dr Farhana Khanam is the lead author on the study and an assistant scientist in icddr,b’s Center for Vaccine Sciences.
An icddr,b study which is one of the first analyses of the range of immune responses following typhoid fever in children under-five, has found that minor children display the same clinical illness as adults-such as duration of fever and temperature-as well as the same immune responses and antibiotic sensitivity patterns.
Typhoid fever, a severe systemic disease caused by S. typhi bacteria, is often under diagnosed because, until now, there has been a lack of good diagnostic methods with high sensitivity and specificity. As a result, the actual burden of typhoid in Bangladesh is not known, and there is widespread misuse of antibiotics to treat fever. Ultimately, this could contribute to a decrease in the effectiveness of antibiotics and an increase in multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria.
Dr Farhana Khanam believes that multi-drug resistant typhoid is a very serious threat. “A patient can become a chronic carrier if they
are not treated, or if they are treated incorrectly, she says. “And this may have severe implications for their health, such as the risk of intestinal perforation or encephalopathy.” Patients will also continue to transmit the disease and infect others in their community.
In this study, 15 percent of patients who tested positive for typhoid presented with a multi-drug resistant strain. Although little is known about multi-drug resistant.S. typhi in children, the findings of the study suggest that infection with a multi-drug resistant strain may impact clinical severity and outcome.
“Ultimately we are focusing on accurate diagnosis,” she continues, “because to control typhoid you must be able to treat the patients accurately, and to treat the patients accurately you need accurate diagnosis.”
The study was supported by icddr,b, the US National Institutes of health, for Fogarty International Center, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Swedish International Cooperation Agency.
‘A new diagnostic test for typhoid fever has proven accurate in minor children, and could therefore help diagnose patients more accurately and treat them more rapidly’ opined Dr Farhana Khanam to the New Nation recently.
Dr Farhana Khanam is the lead author on the study and an assistant scientist in icddr,b’s Center for Vaccine Sciences.
An icddr,b study which is one of the first analyses of the range of immune responses following typhoid fever in children under-five, has found that minor children display the same clinical illness as adults-such as duration of fever and temperature-as well as the same immune responses and antibiotic sensitivity patterns.
Typhoid fever, a severe systemic disease caused by S. typhi bacteria, is often under diagnosed because, until now, there has been a lack of good diagnostic methods with high sensitivity and specificity. As a result, the actual burden of typhoid in Bangladesh is not known, and there is widespread misuse of antibiotics to treat fever. Ultimately, this could contribute to a decrease in the effectiveness of antibiotics and an increase in multi-drug resistant strains of bacteria.
Dr Farhana Khanam believes that multi-drug resistant typhoid is a very serious threat. “A patient can become a chronic carrier if they
are not treated, or if they are treated incorrectly, she says. “And this may have severe implications for their health, such as the risk of intestinal perforation or encephalopathy.” Patients will also continue to transmit the disease and infect others in their community.
In this study, 15 percent of patients who tested positive for typhoid presented with a multi-drug resistant strain. Although little is known about multi-drug resistant.S. typhi in children, the findings of the study suggest that infection with a multi-drug resistant strain may impact clinical severity and outcome.
“Ultimately we are focusing on accurate diagnosis,” she continues, “because to control typhoid you must be able to treat the patients accurately, and to treat the patients accurately you need accurate diagnosis.”
The study was supported by icddr,b, the US National Institutes of health, for Fogarty International Center, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Swedish International Cooperation Agency.
