This summer, more children afflicted with typhoid: Docs

Ludhiana: With summer peaking, the number of cases of typhoid has witnessed an rise in the city. Many health experts said this year children, who could not get vaccinated for typhoid because of Covid pandemic are significantly more.
Dr Naveen Bajaj, child specialist at a private hospital, said: “There are hardly any cases of typhoid otherwise but summer months, I get around six to seven children a month afflicted with it. This is due to contaminated water and food. So it is very important to maintain hygiene.”
According to him, the cases are mostly reported in the more than two years age group and is most common in five to eight years age group. “It equally affects boys and girls,” added Dr Bajaj. He said many of them did not get vaccinated this year because of the threat of Covid-19.
Typhoid is a bacterial infection caused by bacteria Salmonella Typhi that is highly contagious and can spread through contaminated water or food prepared with contaminated water. It can lead to high grade fever (more than 100 Fahrenheit), vomiting,diarrhoea and it can be fatal too.
Experts said this year the patients include more than 10 years age group as well.
“There are a lot of children infected with typhoid. For two years, many of routine immunisation did not take place. Last week, in our hospital there were around eight patients, mostly children, who were admitted,” said epidemiologist Dr Clarence Samuel.
“This is the season for enteric fever (typhoid) and there is fecal-oral route for transmission of disease. The disease occurs by eating raw food, salads, food prepared with contaminated water and milk products. Also if a street vendor goes to toilet and doesn’t wash hands after that, he can spread it to many people. So it is important to eat hygienic food,” said Dr Amanpreet Kaur of department of medicine at civil hospital.
She added that she gets around 20 patients in all age groups, including children and adults.
However, a child specialist refutes the claim that more children are being inflicted with the disease. “There may be marginal increase in the number of typhoid patients, as after remaining two years inside (homes), people have started to go out and have street food,” said Dr Deepak Bhat, a child specialist at DMCH.