Campaign stressed to convince people to follow SOPs

ABBOTTABAD: Complaints by people of different areas including Abbottabad for having typhoid fever nowadays have no reality on ground as a survey by the MPhil students of Microbiology of Abbottabad University of Science & Technology (AUST) revealed that there has been no diagnostic testing of the typhoid, and people just don’t want to listen about the coronavirus while they are naming different diseases to fulfill their pseudo-satisfaction.

People are neither taking the proper measures nor following standard operating procedures and just giving different names to the disease, like typhoid, tuberculosis, influenza. People here, especially in rural areas, are not ready to accept this reality that SARS 2 is here. People have been found saying while sitting in their community centres that this is just a fashion and there is nothing like that.

Hundreds of males and females have contracted high temperature and a non-productive cough with fatigue, aches. Most of these individuals have recovered after 2 to 3 days of illness,” says the crux of the survey conducted by M.Phil students of Microbiology of AUST under the supervision of Assistant Professor Dr Ayub Jadoon.

The researchers said that typhoid is caused by bacteria called salmonella typhi and it is usually the gastrointestinal illness. Mainly the digestive tract is infected while in COVID the respiratory tract is the target of the virus.

“In typhoid, there is vomiting and diarrhoea and the pain in the upper right quadrant in addition to the high temperature, cough and fatigue. There may be constipation in a few patients. It might show a liver infection as well. Antibiotics are the drug of choice for this illness and usually, the cefatriaxone, ampicillins, have been found good for this illness. If the typhoid fever is left untreated, it can become very fatal after the 3rd week. Hence typhoid illness is altogether a different phenomenon. It’s not the droplet infection and the transmission of typhoid is through infected water and food. It’s a water and foodborne illness. ”

Dr Ayub Jadoon, when contacted, stated that it is a matter of concern why the typhoid fever has erupted on the scene, especially when coronavirus pandemic is going on around the world.

He said that hundreds of patients are showing a similar illness in Abbottabad which is very clear that if at all a few individuals are typhoid positive, they may not show the signs of typhoid fever, there might be carriers of the disease.

Dr Ayub said that the SARS 2 virus is now infecting the people here right now and restricted in the upper respiratory tract by the immunity called innate immunity; it includes mucociliary movement, secretary antibodies and macrophages and other white blood cells.

He stressed the need for educating people through a massive campaign to counter such false beliefs and the people should be encouraged to follow the SOPs and such wrong and fake concepts should be discouraged.

Dr Ayub asked people to utilise the village community centres for the awareness of villagers and health workers or the teams should move to the rural areas, sit with the villagers in the hujras and the community centres and tell the exact situation in a simple language best understandable to them.