Research opportunities in typhoid fever: Epidemiology and molecular biology

It is estimated that typhoid fever (TF) annually affects more than 12 million persons, worldwide. TF is the result of a generalized infection by the enterobacterium Salmonella typhi. Patients with TF, most of whom live in developing countries have impaired activity for several weeks resulting in an important loss in productivity and welfare. Death may occur, with the single most frequent cause being intestinal perforation. While the first priority must be to develop better methods of disease prevention, there is also an urgent need to devise easy, accurate, and inexpensive diagnostic assays that will allow early routine distinction of TF from other febrile illnesses. Research on TF offers the opportunity to explore many aspects of pathogenesis and the host immune response, as well as to contribute toward the development of new vaccines and diagnostic laboratory tests.