Typhoid bacillus is Bacterium typhosum or Solmonella typhosa. It lives and grows in human beings and escapes from body in faeces i.e.,solid wastes . Flies spread the germs to food and drink. Some people who were infected with the diseases themselves carry the germs and can infect others.They are called carriers.
Symptoms of disease develops from one to two weeks after infection. Person becomes feverish and has headache and pain in his back, arms and legs. Nausea develops and patient looses appetite. Sometimes red spots appear on his body, usually on abdomen. Sometimes , typhoid germs get into the blood stream and complications follow . Bone marrow becomes infected or membrane covering spinal cord may be attacked causing meningitis.
Moving on to the treatment, it includes cold sponge bath to control the fever, use of paracetamol every 6 hourly to reduce the body temperature, use of antibiotic drugs like Chloromycetin.
Typhoid as mentioned can be dreadful and needs good prevention. Firstly good personal hygiene and public sanitation should be maintained. Vaccination with injections of TAB vaccine given with an interval of not less than 7-10 days. Similarly, purification of water supply , hygienic methods of sewage disposal, cleanliness while handling food and fly control are other preventive measures of typhoid. For the prevention of epidemics , an intensive search for source of infection should be searched. Man is the reservoir of infections for germs of typhoid i.e. germs depend on the human body for survival. Therefore, source of infection may be an infected person or a carrier or contaminated food or water. The source of infection is to be treated as well as contacts with it to prevent or halt an epidemics.