Determinants of Typhoid Fever Occurrence in Regions with High Risk of Contracting Communicable Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Typhoid fever (TF) typically manifests itself as prolonged high fever, relative bradycardia, splenomegaly, and abdominal symptoms. Socioeconomic factors, including educational level, poor sanitation and hygiene conditions,, social assistance, access to safe food, and misuse of antibiotics contribute to the dissemination and persistence of <i>Salmonella</i> infections in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The combination of these factors creates conditions for the permanent occurrence of TF, which is the most common cause of hospitalization and death in low incoming countries. This study aimed to assess the relationships between the risk factor and TF occurrence. The systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines and submitted for registration at the International Prospective Register of Ongoing Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO). A literature search was conducted using MEDLINE/PUBMED (National Library of Medicine), MEDLINE (Bireme), Science Direct and B-on databases, between June and August of 2022. Of 2,246 articles, 42 were included. Of these studies, 24 were included in the systematic review, and 9 were included in the meta-analysis. The prevalence of Typhoid fever ranged between 1.1% and 93%. The factors associated with TF were as follows: contaminated food, untreated drinking water, incorrect hygiene practices, contact with someone who had TF, a lack of knowledge about TF, living in a refugee camp or nearby. There was a clear association between TF and contaminated food, untreated drinking water, incorrect hygiene practices, contact with someone who had TF, a lack of knowledge of TF, and living under inadequate conditions.