Typhoid fever vaccine

Typhoid or typhoid fever is an illness that commonly appears around the world. The main symptom of this illness is a high fever of 40 degrees Celsius or 104 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by profuse sweating and an inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, which can be describes as gastroenteritis.

Typhoid is usually transmitted through contaminated food or water, contamination which can occur due to Salmonella enterica. Salmonella is a bacterium that can be found in various places, but what causes Typhus is contamination with the feces of a person that has been infected. The bacterium grows in the body of a human host due to the normal body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 Fahrenheit).

There are a few methods of treating Typhoid fever, but probably the best method of all is prevention. This can be done with the help of a vaccine that comes in two different forms: a live vaccine or a subunit one. The first form of Typhoid vaccine goes by the name Ty21a. This prevention method is recommended by the World Health Organization and offers between 33 percent and 78 percent protection from Typhoid fever. Ty21a is usually given to people that are about to travel to areas of the world where Salmonella enterica infection is likely. But the inoculation method works just as well otherwise. Administration is oral, in the form of a capsule or liquid suspension.

The second Typhoid vaccine is the Vi capsular polysaccharide vaccine or ViCPS. Being a subunit vaccine it is produced by separating a strand of protein from the original virus and manipulating it into acting against it to form a cure. This method is popularly used for other viruses in experimental trials, and its success rate against Typhoid is only 60 to 80 percent.

A vaccine for Typhoid fever usually works best if the traveller or any other person take very great care of personal hygiene that could otherwise lead to any number of diseases, not just Typhoid.