Paris - Drug-resistant typhoid has become an invisible epidemic in Africa, scientists said on Monday after an unprecedented probe into the disease.
Writing in the journal Nature Genetics, the team sounded the alarm after sequencing more than 1,800 samples of typhoid bacteria from 63 countries.
This revealed the rise of a multi-drug-resistant (MDR) strain called H58, which does not respond effectively to frontline antibiotics.
H58 has recently acquired mutations that blunt newer drugs such as ciprofloxacin and azithromycin, they added.
H58 is "displacing" antibiotic-sensitive versions of the germ, the study warned.
The now-dominant lineage "has emerged and spread throughout Asia and Africa over the last 30 years," it said.
The paper described "an ongoing, unrecognised MDR epidemic within Africa itself."
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 21 million people are infected with typhoid every year, and an estimated 216,000 to 600,000 die.
AFP
