Murad Ahmad Khan, Iqbal Akhtar Khan.
Typhoid Fever: a malady awaiting eradication since centuries.
Med Channel Jan ;10(2):10-2.

Typhoid fever, a potentially lethal global problem o f public health significance, is a disease of antiquity. Whereas Hippocrates (460- 377 BC) is known to have described it, Chang Chung-Ching (floruit 168 AD) has the honour to author a medical classic "Essay on Typhoid Fever". The renowned physicians of the globe, during their lifetime, contributed significantly towards the understanding of epidemiology and transmission of the disease. However; the highly commendable achievements were made by Carl Joseph Eberth in. 1880 through discovery of the incriminating organism, by Fernand Widal in 1896 through introduction of the first laboratory diagnostic test, by Almroth Edward Wright in 1897 through production of the first vaccine and by Walter Reed in 1898 through description of the modes of transmission of the disease. It is a pity that the graph of morbidity and mortality attributable to typhoid fever is going high up. Despite identification of the etiological agent, remarkable improvement in the understanding of the epidemiology and transmission of the disease, availability of the specific and sensitive diagnostic tools, presence of efficacious and affordable medications, there is little hope that eradication of this ancient malady could be a possibility in the near future.

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