US issues travel warning for Pakistan
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*WASHINGTON - The US has issued a warning for people visiting friends or relatives in Pakistan after an outbreak of typhoid fever that does not respond to most antibiotics.*
The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued the level-2 alert, asking travelers to “practice enhanced precautions”. So far this year, three cases of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid fever have been reported among travelers going back from Pakistan, two in the US and one in the UK.
While the CDC has warned that all travelers to Pakistan are at risk of getting XDR typhoid fever, it said that people visiting friends or relatives are at higher risk than tourists and business travelers. It advised travelers visiting South Asia to get vaccinated against typhoid fever and urged them to practice safe eating and drinking habits.
Usually, the typhoid fever can easily be treated with antibiotics. However, the XDR strain of Salmonella Typhi that began in Hyderabad in November 2016, and has now spread to Karachi and many adjoining districts, is resistant to most antibiotics used to treat typhoid fever. Several deaths have been reported so far.
