When natural disasters strike, not only do they result in damage to property and loss of lives but their aftermath often includes continuing grief over the outbreak of infectious diseases due to poor sanitation. As the rainy season sets in, our preparation must include adequate protection against infectious diseases. One such infection that can be prevented through immunization is typhoid fever, a disease that downed over thousand people around the world.

Typhoid fever can be contracted by anyone through the ingestion of the salmonella typhi bacteria from contaminated food or water. When ingested, the bacteria multiply in the liver, gallbladder or bile ducts, and pass into the bowel. Stool and urine from an infected person can contaminate the food and water supply, thus facilitating the fast spread of the disease.

Symptoms of typhoid infection include sudden onset of sustained fever, severe headache, and nausea, severe loss of appetite, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea. Severe cases can include intestinal perforation and bleeding, mental dullness or meningitis, or even death.

Ensuring that places are clean is the first step to typhoid fever prevention. However, sanitation can indeed pose a big challenge in the midst of heavy rain and flooding, which is why being vaccinated with a single dose of typhoid vaccine every three years is a good preventive health practice, especially if you are living, working or traveling to typhoid endemic areas.

Apart from vaccination, we can further lower our chances of contracting typhoid fever by keeping the following sanitation reminders in mind:

• Frequently and thoroughly wash your hands especially when eating or handling food.
• Properly clean and cook foods and boil drinking water for at least 10 minutes.
• Be careful when eating our. Carefully chose restaurants and eat only thoroughly cooked food.
• Be careful with raw vegetables and shellfish as they may have come into contact with contaminated water.

Awareness and prevention through vaccination are the secrets to good health. The more protected and ready we were to fight illness, the better our chances of avoiding life threatening diseases like typhoid fever.