Effectiveness of Typhoid Conjugate Vaccination in Preventing Culture-Confirmed Typhoid Fever
TL;DR
Protection against MDR strains makes typhoid vaccination a suitable choice to decrease the incidence of typhoid fever, and vaccination against typhoid promotes significant protection against culture-proven typhoid fever.
Abstract
Objective: To compare the effectiveness of Typhoid conjugate vaccine against culture-confirmed typhoid fever. Study Design: Prospective analytical study. Place and Duration of Study: Pediatric Department, Combined Military Hospital, Abbottabad Pakistan, July 2023 to Feb 2024. Methodology: Pediatric age group patients from 2-12 years diagnosed with cases of typhoid fever were included in the study. Demographics, history of vaccination, presenting complaints, systemic exam findings, infective markers, and culture reports were recorded. Results: A total of 75 children with a diagnosis of typhoid fever were included in the study. The mean age recorded was 8.07±2.38 years with a male predominance of 54(72.0%) as compared to 21(28.0%) females. 43(57.3%) of the children were vaccinated, and the most common presenting symptom was fever in 70(93.3%) patients. Deranged platelets were the most common finding with a frequency of 54(72.0%). Negative culture was observed in 19(44.2%) vaccinated patients as compared to 03(9.4%) in unvaccinated children (p<0.01). In unvaccinated children, positive blood cultures revealed that MDR pathogen strains were most common as compared to non-resistant strains in vaccinated children. Conclusion: Vaccination against typhoid promotes significant protection against culture-proven typhoid fever. Protection against MDR strains makes typhoid vaccination a suitable choice to decrease the incidence of typhoid fever.