Causes | Paratyphoid

Causes

Paratyphoid fever is an infectious disease that is transmitted and triggered by a pathogen. This pathogen is a specific type of salmonella bacteria (Salmonella paratyphi), which can be transmitted in various ways. These include eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water. The bacteria can also be transmitted from person to person. When the salmonella enters the body, it can attack various structures of the immune system, especially in the digestive tract, and thus trigger the disease.

What is the transmission path of paratyphoid?

Salmonella, which causes paratyphoid disease, can be transmitted in two ways. Patients excrete the bacteria via the stool. This allows a direct transmission from person to person, for example in hospital.

An indirect transmission is also possible. This occurs via contaminated drinking water or contaminated food. In this case, the salmonellae enter the body by absorbing the contaminated products. However, it also requires a certain amount of bacteria to trigger the disease in the first place.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of paratyphoid disease is primarily based on the detection of the pathogen in a sample of blood and stool. Here, both the bacteria themselves and antibodies that the body has produced to defend itself against salmonella can be detected. Typical changes can be detected in the blood of those affected. These include a reduced number of white blood cells. In addition, there is the anamnesis, i.e. the doctor-patient conversation, from which information can be obtained, for example about contact with contaminated food or a trip to a risk country.

Vaccination

There is currently no vaccination against paratyphoid fever. Therefore it is important that hygienic measures are observed if a trip to a risk country is imminent. Risk countries include the Balkans, India, Turkey and Pakistan.

In order to avoid infection from contaminated food, care should be taken not to consume raw or insufficiently heated food. When in doubt, one can follow the well-known wisdom “Peel it, cook it or forget it! The symptoms of paratyphoid usually appear about 1 to 10 days after infection.

They are usually relatively mild and the disease is usually over after about 4 to 10 more days. Since the infectious disease is self-limiting, it depends on the strength of the immune system, which determines how long the symptoms last, so to speak. The prognosis for paratyphoid fever is usually very favorable. The symptoms usually do not leave behind any long-term damage and complications hardly ever occur.