A skeleton in the closet: The implications of COVID-19 on XDR strain of typhoid in Pakistan

Shoaib Ahmad; Christos Tsagkaris; Abdullahi Tunde Aborode; Muhammad Tanzeel Ul Haque; Shayan Iqbal Khan; Uzzam Ahmed Khawaja; Ana Carla Dos Santos Costa; Mohammad Yasir Essar; Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno 3rd

doi:10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100084

A skeleton in the closet: The implications of COVID-19 on XDR strain of typhoid in Pakistan

Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2021 Nov:2:100084. doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100084. Epub 2021 Jan 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Punjab Medical College, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
² Faisalabad Medical University, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
³ University of Crete, Faculty of Medicine, Heraklion, Greece.
⁴ Healthy Africans Platform, Research and Development, Ibadan, Nigeria.
⁵ Oli Health Magazine Organization, Research and Development, Kigali, Rwanda.
⁶ Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan.
⁷ Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Pakistan.
⁸ Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Karachi, Pakistan.
⁹ Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
¹⁰ Medical Research Center, Kateb University, Kabul, Afghanistan.
¹¹ Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.
¹² Faculty of Management and Development Studies, University of the Philippines (Open University), Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.

Abstract

Extensively drug resistant typhoid fever is a major public health concern in Pakistan. During the COVID-19 pandemic, poor sanitation is leading typhoid cases to a surge and obsolete diagnostic methods are paving the way towards ir-rational pharmacotherapy. In particular, the overuse of azithromycin for the treatment of COVID-19 might impair one of the few remaining regimens against XDR. Facing COVID-19 and XDR at the same time can lead to a catastrophy, unless the government, the stakeholders and healthcare workers take joint action to improve sanitation, educate the public, vaccinate vulnerable groups and establish good diagnostic and management practices.

Keywords: COVID-19; Pakistan; Typhoid; XDR strain.