Antibiotic-resistant typhoid infections accounted for at least 87 per cent of India's disease-related economic burden in 2023, according to a study in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia. The total economic burden due to typhoid fever was estimated at Rs 123 billion. Children under the age of 10 incurred the highest economic burden, contributing to over half of the costs, researchers, including those from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Christian Medical College in Vellore, found. They also estimated that households bore 91 per cent of expenses, and 70,000 families faced "catastrophic" health expenditure. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana), Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal were estimated to account for 51 per cent of the national costs. Typhoid fever is an infectious disease commonly transmitted through contaminated food or water. Symptoms can include high fever, fatigue, headache and stomach pain. The authors said the findings pr
The rise in diseases like urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and typhoid, now harder to treat due to bacteria's growing resistance to common antibiotics, paints a grim picture
The study adds that an estimated 7.7 million die in LMICs due to bacterial infections, of which almost five million deaths are due to AMR bacteria
Evidence provided by science is often mixed, incomplete, changeable or conditional on context
Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, says WHO