In a follow-up on the typhoid outbreak in Auckland, New Zealand, the Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) reports one additional person has been identified as a possible case of typhoid and testing is now being carried out.
Until the result of this latest testing is known the number of confirmed cases remains at 10.
ARPHS says the cases appear linked and contact tracing is continuing to allow protective measures to limit any further spread of typhoid within Auckland’s Pacific community. Health officials believe that the disease has been spread by a common source, but this will be confirmed as ARPHS learns more.
Typhoid fever is a potentially severe and occasionally life-threatening febrile illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi.
Humans are the only source of these bacteria; no animal or environmental reservoirs have been identified. Typhoid fever is most often acquired through consumption of water or food that has been contaminated by feces of an acutely infected or convalescent person or a chronic, asymptomatic carrier.
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