Cases of drug-resistant typhoid fever are on the rise. This is why we should worry

Nov 14, 2019

The rapid rise of increasingly difficult to treat typhoid is a worrying prospect. Image: Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash

Claas Kirchhelle

Research Associate, Oxford Martin School/ Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford

Samantha Vanderslott

Postdoctoral Researcher in Social Sciences , University of Oxford

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Bacilli of typhoid fever from a culture. Image: Wellcome Collection, CC BY

Sir Henry Acland (L) and Dean Henry Liddell (R) , by Sarah Angelina Acland, 1898 Image: © History of Science Museum, University of Oxford. Inv. 18238., Author provided

Anti-typhoid vaccination in World War I Image: © Wellcome Collection, CC BY

An illustration that appeared in 1909 in The New York American Image: Wikimedia Commons

The various ways that a water well may become infected by typhoid fever bacteria, 1939. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Laboratory workers test blood samples in Aberdeen, which experienced a typhoid epidemic in 1964. Image: PA Archive/PA Archive/PA Images

Antibiotics are in widespread use in agriculture. Image: Rat007/Shutterstock

Wellcome-Sanger Map: Population structure of the S. Typhi H58 lineage. Image: PATH

A volunteer swallows live typhoid bacteria at the 2017 vaccine trials in Oxford. Image: © Andrew Testa/ Panos Pictures, Author provided

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