HISTORY OF TYPHOID



History of Typhoid

History of Typhoid

Introduction

Typhoid fever, also known as Salmonella Typhi or commonly just typhoid, is a common worldwide illness, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person. The bacteria then perforate through the intestinal wall and are phagocytosed by macrophages. The organism is a Gram-negative short bacillus that is motile due to its peritrichous flagella. The bacterium grows best at 37 °C/99 °F human body temperature.(Overturf, 1987)

Thesis statement

“Typhoid has known to be the one of the most deadliest diseases in the older days”. It history explains the facts about its causes and spreading in the whole world starting from origination.

History of Typhoid

Around 430-424 B.C.E., a devastating plague, which some believe to have been typhoid fever, killed one third of the population of Athens, including their leader Pericles. The balance of power shifted from Athens to Sparta, ending the Golden Age of Pericles that had marked Athenian dominance in the ancient world. Ancient historian Thucydides also contracted the disease, but he survived to write about the plague. His writings are the primary source on this outbreak. The cause of the plague has long been disputed, with modern academics and medical scientists considering epidemic typhus the most likely cause. However, a 2006 study detected DNA sequences similar to those of the bacterium responsible for typhoid fever. Other scientists have disputed the findings, citing serious methodologic flaws in the dental pulp-derived DNA study. The disease is most commonly transmitted through poor hygiene habits and public sanitation conditions; during the period in question, the whole population of Attica was besieged within the Long Walls and lived in tents.( Overturf, 1987)

Mary Mallon ("Typhoid Mary") in a hospital bed (foreground). She was forcibly quarantined as a carrier of typhoid fever in 1907 for ...