Pakistan pioneers Anti-Typhoid vaccine - Daily Times

Children in southern districts of Sindh are going to get a vaccine against typhoid during a two-week immunisation campaign. Since 2017, most of Pakistan’s 10,000 cases of typhoid have been documented in southern Sindh. Ten million children between nine months and 15 years would get lifesaving vaccines.

The new typhoid vaccine was approved in 2018 by the World Health Organisation and has been provided by Gavi, a Geneva-based GAVI vaccine alliance, backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the WHO, the World Bank, and UNICEF. The vaccine has been provided free-of-cost to the Pakistani government.

By embarking upon the campaign, Pakistan has become the first country in the world to introduce a new typhoid vaccine aimed to handle an ongoing outbreak of a drug-resistant strain of the potentially lethal disease. By 2021, it will become a nationwide program and a part of routine childhood vaccination schedules.

Typhoid is a bacterial infection affecting children between one and 15 years. It spreads through contaminated food and water. The bacterium causes fever, nausea, stomach pain and pink spots on the chest. In severe cases, it can lead to complications in the gut and head, which can be fatal.

A Global Burden of Disease Study by the US Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated that in 2017, there were 11 million typhoid cases and 116,000 typhoid deaths worldwide.

Pakistan has become the first country in the world to introduce a new typhoid vaccine aimed to handle an ongoing outbreak of a drug-resistant strain of the potentially lethal disease

There are medicines available to treat this fatal infection, but the bacterial strain has evolved extensive drug resistance against antibiotics and become a so-called “superbug.” The recent outbreaks in Pakistan started in 2016 and so far infected around 11,000 people with a death rate of around one per cent.

Typhoid is a fatal infection. The main source of infection transmission is contaminated eatables and drinkables. In order to avoid infection, frequent hand-washing in hot, soapy water is the best way to control infection. Untreated water must never be used as contaminated drinking water is a problem in areas where typhoid fever is endemic. Moreover, raw fruits and vegetables should also be avoided.

Indiscriminate use of the antibiotic is responsible for the growing resistance of antibiotics (trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and ampicillin, to name a few) to S Typhi strain of bacterium.

Surprisingly, vaccines are not 100 per cent effective and caution should still be exercised when eating and drinking. Vaccination should not be started if the individual is currently ill or under six years of age. Anyone with HIV should not take the live, oral dose.

The vaccine may have adverse effects. One in 100 people will experience a fever. After the oral vaccine, there may be gastrointestinal problems, nausea and headaches. However, severe side effects are rare with either vaccine. There are two types of typhoid vaccine available, but a more powerful vaccine-like recent one that has been provided to Pakistan was much needed.

It is expected that the health authorities will monitor the campaign properly so that vaccine against typhoid may not be a “polio failure story.”

The writer is the chairman of the Department of Parasitology, Sindh Agriculture University, Tandojam

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