Unicef, health officials concerned over rising typhoid cases.

KARACHI -- Health officials of the Sindh Health Department and UNICEF have expressed their serious concerns over the increasing number of 'extensively-drug resistant' (XDR) typhoid cases in the province.

Typhoid infects around 21.6 million people every year, while the severity of the disease kills two to six thousand people each year. In Asia, Pakistan and India are mostly affected by the infection.

The provincial health department will launch a Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV) campaign against XDR typhoid fever from 18th to 30th November to target around 10 million people of Sindh, the officials said, and urged the citizens to adopt simple hand hygiene, and avoid eating unhealthy food.

Antibiotic resistance has become a major issue in the treatment of typhoid, while there are a few limited antibiotic options available for the treatment of typhoid, they said, adding that as many as 4709 typhoid cases were registered in Sindh during August 2019, while out of the total 2999 cases are reported in Karachi only.

Dr Zahoor Ahmed Baloch, former Project Director EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunization), Dr Khalid Zubairi and Suneel Raja, Provincial C4D Consultant - EPI expressed these views while speaking at the public awareness seminar held at the Prof. Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Auditorium, organized by Dr Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD), University of Karachi on Wednesday.

The seminar was jointly organised by Dr Panjwani Center, Sindh Health Department and Virtual Education Project Pakistan (VEPP).

Delivering a presentation on the fatal disease, Dr Khalid Zubairi pointed out that as many as 10,000 people had been infected from the typhoid fever in Sindh so far. He said the...