Typhoid Fever Facts
Knowing a few typhoid fever facts may help you better understand the illness. While the disease is common in the developing world (where it affects 21.5 million people annually), only about 400 cases occur annually in the United States, 75 percent of which are acquired while traveling internationally. Other typhoid fever facts include the mortality rate, which is usually under 1 percent when appropriate treatment is received.
Typhoid fever is a life-threatening illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi. In the United States, about 400 cases of typhoid fever occur each year, and 75 percent of these are acquired while traveling internationally. Typhoid fever is still common in the developing world, where it affects about 21.5 million people each year.
The cause of typhoid fever, as mentioned, is an infection with the typhoid fever bacteria known as Salmonella typhi.
You can get typhoid fever if you eat food or drink beverages that have been handled by a person who is shedding the Salmonella typhi bacteria or if sewage contaminated with the bacteria gets into the water you use for drinking or washing food.
Typhoid fever is common in most parts of the world, except in industrialized regions, such as Canada, the United States, Western Europe, Australia, and Japan. The risk for typhoid fever is greatest within the Indian subcontinent and other developing countries in:
- The Caribbean
- Central and South America.