Travellers take heed: Outbreak of extensively drug resistant (XDR) typhoid fever in Pakistan and a warning from the US CDC

Imported, drug-resistant typhoid fever has been reported among travellers [1]. Typhoid fever is a highly contagious notifiable bacterial infection, spread by contaminated water and food. Each year, an estimated 26 million cases of typhoid fever appeared worldwide causing 215 thousand deaths. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a foremost threat in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi in parts of Asia and Africa. The first deadly outbreak of a novel S. Typhi H58 clone harboring resistance to three first-line drugs (ampicillin, chloramphenicol and co-trimoxazole) as well as the blaCTX-M-15 extended-spectrum β-lactamase and qnrS fluoroquinolone resistance gene was classified as extensively drug resistant (XDR) in Sindh, Pakistan [2].
Source: Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Source Type: research