The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a warning about a drug resistant strain of typhoid prevalent in Pakistan which presents a risk to anyone travelling to the country. This is a warning for all of us who live in Pakistan as well. There appears to have been little attention given to the 800 or so cases of typhoid – and four deaths – reported to hospitals. The chief problem is that at least five kinds of antibiotics have proved ineffective against this variety of typhoid, making it extremely difficult to control. As with other diseases, it is believed that the overuse of antibiotics in our part of the world may be leading to bugs that cannot be cured using standard medication. At least four persons who have travelled from Pakistan, two to the UK and two to the US, have taken this strain of typhoid back home with them, leading to the level 2 alert by the CDC. The advisory on travel to Pakistan suggests that extreme caution be exercised when eating food or consuming water in the country. Vaccination against typhoid has also been recommended, though experts agree there is some doubt over whether it will be effective against this variety of the disease which affects the intestines and causes diarrhoea, severe pain and fever.
It is quite apparent that we at home need to protect ourselves from this and other diseases. It is not known how many may have suffered the illness mainly in rural areas, given that most cases are not reported. While most of us understand the precautions against typhoid include good kitchen hygiene and avoiding possibly contaminated food, we also should also know that doctors need to change their practices if we are to avoid the emergence of ‘super bugs’. Such bugs have already been seen across India and present an enormously dangerous threat to global population. Medical specialists say that only by curbing the misuse of antibiotics can such life-threatening illnesses be brought under check. Awareness needs to be created about typhoid. At the same time, we must assess why diseases that could once be easily treated by using relatively common medications have become resistant to these drugs. Essentially, the tools to combat sickness have suddenly become redundant. This is extremely dangerous.