Researcher bemoans increase in typhoid cases
One of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme researchers has said investigations into typhoid indicate an increase in outbreaks since 2010.
The researcher Dr. Chisomo Msefula, who is also a senior lecturer at the Microbiology Unit at College of Medicine (CoM), a constituent college of the University of Malawi (Unima), said this on the sidelines of the trust’s Journalists in Residence rebuilding meeting last week.
“Typhoid is a big problem. We have been hearing about a lot of outbreaks in recent times. So, that is why we are doing studies to understand the antibiotic sensitivity, but also diagnostics of the disease.
“These are ongoing investigations; there are people who are going into areas where outbreaks have been reported and, through those investigations, we will be able to understand what is actually happening and how to stop the transmission,” he said.
Msefula also said typhoid is usually spread through poor food hygiene.
Several typhoid outbreaks have been reported in the country in recent times in districts such as Zomba, Neno and Mchinji.
In September, Ministry of Health (MoH) confirmed a typhoid outbreak around Zalewa area in Neno East and linked it to the one that was reported in Malosa, Zomba in July this year.
The Zomba outbreak, which specifically affected Malosa Secondary School, St. Luke College of Nursing and St. Luke Hospital, led to 348 reported cases as of July 9 2016.
It followed a similar outbreak which MoH registered in Nsambe area in Traditional Authority Dambe in Neno. n
