Defining DNA Differences Tackles Typhoid Fever

Sunday, July 27, 2008 - 17:35 in Health & Medicine

Typhoid fever kills 10–30% of untreated people. One of the best-known cases was that of Mary Mallon, a healthy carrier of typhoid, who worked for many years in the food industry in New York and is thought to have infected almost 50 people. She was eventually forcibly quarantined by authorities and named Typhoid Mary. There are 17 million cases of Typhoid fever each year - although the World Health Organization cautions that this is a 'very conservative' estimate. Young people are most at risk: in Indonesia, nine out of ten cases occur in 3–19-year-olds. It has been controlled by vaccination and use of antibiotics but antibiotic resistance is an emerging problem, especially in south-east Asia. Read More...

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