Causes of typhus from daily habits and activities

The cause of typhus (typhus) or typhoid fever is bacteria that come from the environment or unhygienic habits. If you have typhoid fever, you can feel symptoms, such as weakness, fatigue, and sore throat. Then, what can cause typhus? Check out the following explanation.

What causes typhus?

Typhus or typhoid fever is a disease that can be spread through food, water, or transmitted from an infected person (through feces). Typhus is caused by bacteria Salmonella typhi.

The bacteria that cause typhus can also be found in contaminated food or drink, then the bacteria then enter the digestive tract and multiply. This will trigger symptoms of typhus, such as high fever, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhea.

Salmonella typhi linked to the bacteria that cause salmonellosis, another serious intestinal infection. However, these two conditions are not the same.

How Salmonella typhi attack the body?

After eating or drinking contaminated snacks Salmonella typhi, bacteria descend into the digestive system and immediately multiply very quickly.

This condition makes your body temperature get high, upset stomach, and constipation or diarrhea. If left untreated, bacteria can enter the bloodstream and spread to other areas of the body.

This can cause typhoid fever symptoms to worsen for several weeks after infection. If the organs and tissues are damaged by the infection, it can lead to serious complications of typhus, such as bleeding in the body or a ruptured intestine.

Typhus career

After being diagnosed with this condition, you will undergo typhus treatment, for example giving antibiotics. However, after antibiotic treatment, people who recover from typhus may still harbor typhus-causing bacteria in the body.

These people are referred to as chronic typhus carriers. Typhus careers usually no longer have signs or symptoms of typhus. However, they can still make typhus bacteria transmitted to other people.

What are the bad habits that can increase the risk of typhus?

Quoted from the Mayo Clinic, typhus is a serious threat worldwide and has attacked around 27 million people or more every year. The disease is spreading in India, Southeast Asia, Africa, the United States and many other areas.

As explained above, typhus is caused by the bacteria S. almonella typhi. However, there are some bad daily habits that can make the bacteria that cause typhus enter your body, namely:

1. Snack carelessly

Your risk of developing typhus can increase due to fatigue and indiscriminate snacking. The bacteria that cause typhoid fever usually live in water contaminated with feces, and can stick to the food or drink you consume as a result of indiscriminate snacking.

Usually, young children are more susceptible to typhoid fever because their immune system is not as strong as adults or it could be because children are not able to maintain cleanliness when eating.

2. Not maintaining food hygiene

Eating fish or other seafood that comes from water that has been contaminated with feces / urine which is infected with bacteria that cause typhus, can also make you contract typhus.

Worse yet, although this is less common, bacteria Salmonella typhi can survive in the urine of an infected person.

Again, if an infected person touches food without washing their hands properly or after urinating, they can pass the infection on to others. Not paying attention to hygiene can also cause typhus to recur after it is declared cured.

3. Consuming dirty drinking water

Apart from food, typhus can also be infected through drinking water. Without realizing it, human feces or feces can contaminate your drinking water.

This should also be considered if you like cold drink snacks. Ice cubes, which are used to cool drinks, can still carry bacteria that cause typhus.

4. Using a dirty toilet

Salmonella typhi bacteria can still survive even in the feces of an infected person. Now, if you use a toilet that is contaminated with faeces of typhus and is not thoroughly cleaned, those of you who were healthy can also be infected.

Instead, you should always be alert and take good care of yourself before and after using the toilet. Therefore it is important to wash your hands after defecating so you don't get infected with typhus.

5. Having sex with typhus sufferers

Having sex with someone who has typhus is a big chance for you to be infected. For example, men who carry the bacteria that cause typhus can pass it on through oral and anal sex.

During oral and anal sex, bacteria from a man's anus who are sick are transferred to their partner. So, sex with people who have typhus also opens up opportunities for spreading the bacteria that cause typhus.

However, this opportunity can only occur if you do oral and anal sex at the same time with a person who has had typhus before.

When the typhus symptoms are felt, it's a good idea to do the right treatment, which is to go to the doctor. If your typhus is severe and more serious, the intestines may bleed and become perforated.

In the medical world, this condition is known as intestinal perforation. Intestinal perforation can cause intestinal contents to leak into the abdominal cavity, causing infection and fatal consequences.