Typhoid Fever is a life-threatening infection caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi. In a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2019, it was stated that over 9 million people get infected with Typhoid and 110,000 die yearly. Typhoid spreads through contaminated food or water and only lives in humans.

Typhoid fever could be asymptomatic in some individuals, and it could be symptomatic in others. The symptoms of Typhoid are prolonged fever, headaches, loss of appetite, fatigue, nausea, constipation, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and rashes. These symptoms are similar to the symptoms of malaria, urinary tract infections and some other illnesses. Hence, there is a great chance of misdiagnoses.

Misdiagnosis occurs when an individual diagnoses himself with Typhoid based on the symptoms alone, thereby taking the wrong antibiotics for treatment. Also, there could be a missed diagnosis of Typhoid, as the individual treats himself for other illnesses while Typhoid persists. At other times, there could be clinical misdiagnoses, where a healthcare provider administers medications without proper laboratory tests.

Complications that arise from misdiagnoses are drug resistance, delayed management worsened state of health and sometimes death.
To avoid misdiagnoses of all forms, proper laboratory tests must be done to confirm the presence of Salmonella Typhi bacterium before treating an individual for Typhoid Fever.

Laboratory tests to detect Typhoid Fever are the WIDAL test, Blood culture and Urine Microscopy and Culture.

Don’t assume it is Typhoid! Visit us at MedBioTech for accurate diagnosis and confirmation.

References:

www.medicalnewstoday.com

www.researchgate.net

www.who.int