Typhoid

Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi. The bacteria then perforate through the intestinal wall and are phagocytosed by macrophages The organism is a Gram-negative short bacillus that is motile due to its peritrichous flagella. The bacterium grows best at 37°C / 98.6°F – human body temperature.

This fever received various names, such as gastric fever, abdominal typhus, infantile remittant fever, slow fever, nervous fever, pythogenic fever, etc. The name of "typhoid" comes from the neuropsychiatric symptoms common to typhoid and typhus (from Greek τῦϕος, "stupor").

The impact of this disease fell sharply with the application of modern sanitation techniques.