Typhoid, a waterborne disease that affects millions of people each year, remains a serious problem in developing countries. Accurate data on its distribution is essential for effective vaccination campaigns and control measures. Traditionally, diagnosis of typhoid fever relies on blood testing, which is an expensive and time-consuming process.
The study, led by Senjuti Saha of the Bangladesh Child Health Research Foundation, took a new approach: identifying bacteriophages, or viruses, that infect and kill bacteria. They looked for phages that specifically targeted Salmonella Typhi, the culprit of typhoid fever.
Researchers analyzed water samples from sewage and other sources in Dhaka (urban) and Mirzapur (rural) in Bangladesh. They found significantly higher levels of typhoid-specific phages in samples from Dhaka (31%) compared to samples from Mirzapur (3%).
These results were consistent with blood culture data, where the infection rate in Dhaka was 5% compared to 0.05% in Mirzapur. This confirms the potential of phages as reliable indicators of typhoid fever.
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Source: Ferra
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