Vaccines against typhoid fever, due to epidemic outbreaks.

There are two vaccines to prevent it. One is an inactivated vaccine that is given as an injection. The other is a lowered live vaccine that is given orally.

Rudolf Weigl invented the world’s first effective vaccine against spotted fever during World War I. He continued his research activity on typhus and the discovery of a vaccine at the Institute of General Biology of the University of Lwów, later renamed the Weigl Institute. He was a Polish biologist and inventor of the first effective typhus vaccine.

Outbreaks routinely appeared in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century, including during the English Civil War, the Thirty Years’ War, and the Napoleonic Wars.

Typhus is a disease caused by a bacterium called Rickettsia typhi. It is spread to people through contact with infected fleas. Fleas become infected when they bite infected animals such as cats, rats, etc.

Complete vaccination consists of taking three capsules administered over five days (days 1, 3 and 5), that is, every 48 h, and always taken one hour apart from food. Typhim Vi and both vaccines are administered as a single-dose regimen, which is injected intramuscularly. Its action begins two or three weeks after its administration. Its effect lasts approximately 3 years.

The World Health Organization recommends vaccination against typhoid fever to all people traveling to high-risk countries: Southeast Asia, Africa and some sectors of Latin America. It must be given at least 2 weeks before travel to give the vaccine time to work. People who remain at risk should receive a booster dose every 2 years.

Currently, the two approved vaccines against typhoid fever could not be applied to children under two years of age. The tests carried out on a group of people confirm the effectiveness of this new vaccine, carried out by the University of Oxford and have shown up to 87% effectiveness.

That is why the experts of the World Health Organization are confident that this new vaccine can end this disease.

Typhoid germs are shed in the feces and, to a certain extent, in the urine of infected people. Germs are spread by eating water or food contaminated by feces from infected people.

Typhoid Fever Prevention