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**Typhoid Fever Developing Dangerous Drug Resistance, Spreading Globally**

Typhoid fever, a disease that has plagued humanity for centuries, is evolving rapidly and developing resistance to available antibiotics, according to a recent study published in *The Lancet Microbe*. Researchers are warning that extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of *Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi* (S. Typhi), the bacterium responsible for typhoid, are emerging and spreading globally at an alarming rate, threatening the effectiveness of current treatments.

The study, which analyzed nearly 3,500 S. Typhi strains collected from South Asia between 2014 and 2019, revealed a significant rise in XDR Typhi. These strains are not only resistant to older antibiotics like ampicillin and chloramphenicol but are also showing increasing resistance to newer, more critical antibiotics.

While the majority of cases originate in South Asia, the study documented nearly 200 instances of international dissemination of these resistant strains since 1990, with spread primarily to Southeast Asia, East and Southern Africa, and even some cases detected in Western countries like the UK, US, and Canada.

“The speed at which highly-resistant strains of S. Typhi have emerged and spread in recent years is a real cause for concern,” said Dr. Jason Andrews of Stanford University, the lead author of the study. “This highlights the need to urgently expand prevention measures, particularly in countries at greatest risk.”

Dr Andrews added that viewing typhoid control and antibiotic resistance as a global, rather than local problem is essential.

The researchers acknowledge that their study may underestimate the true extent of the problem due to underrepresentation of S. Typhi sequences from certain regions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania. They emphasized the need for expanded genomic surveillance to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant organisms.

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