Lab based sentinel survey to determine the need for typhoid vaccine in Chennai!!
Is there any need for the typhoid vaccines in Chennai city?
The answer to this question would soon be available as the Directorate of Public Health or DPH and WHO have initiated a lab based sentinel survey to determine the prevalence of typhoid in Chennai. It is now said that the results of the survey would play a role in making the authorities decide about the need for vaccines etc.
The director of public health Dr. T. Selvavinayagam spoke about how typhoid fever caused by the bacteria called Salmonella typhi would spread through contaminated food and water. Persons affected with this typhoid fever would show several symptoms like fever, fatigue and abdominal issues etc.
Important piece of information is that 1000 persons out of a population of one lakh would have typhoid fever in urban places like Chennai etc. Dr. T. Selvavinayagam added that there could be more typhoid cases also as many doctors do not do gold standard tests to confirm typhoid fever. It is now said that this survey would give a clear picture regarding the need for the typhoid vaccines in Chennai.
A workshop was organised on Tuesday to roll out a lab based survey where 3 govt and 3 private hospitals would send samples to the public health dept. It must be noted that the blood samples of babies between 5 months to 15 days (with more than 3 days of fever) would be sent to the public health laboratory. The doctors would continue to test and treat the patients for the disease and state labs would receive additional samples. Dr. T. Selvavinayagam concluded that the labs would collect the samples and test tem for a year beginning from the second week of May month.
