1.Epidemiological analysis of typhoid fever in Kelantan from a retrieved registry
Ja’afar Nuhu Ja’afar ; Yuan Xin Goay ; Nur Fatihah Mohammed Zaidi ; Heng Chin Low ; Hani Mat Hussin ; Wan Mansor Hamzah ; Subhash Janardhan Bhore ; Prabha Balaram ; Asma Ismail ; Kia Kien Phua
Malaysian Journal of Microbiology 2013;9(2):147-151
Aim: Despite the endemicity of typhoid in Kelantan, epidemiological data showing typhoid association to age, sex, ethnicity and district of patients is limited. This retrospective study investigated the statistical association of these variables from a retrieved registry.
Methodology and results: Cross-tabulation using SPSS was used to analyze 1394 cases of confirmed typhoid patients
admitted to various hospitals in Kelantan state over a six-year period. Fourteen age groups with a five-year range
interval were generated. There was a significant association between typhoid infection and sex of subjects, whereby females were generally more susceptible than males. Ethnicity and district of typhoid patients did not show significant association.
Conclusion, significance and impact of study: The observation of an increased number of typhoid cases with a male predominance in the age group 5-14 and female predominance in the 20-60 age group calls for improved hygiene, continued public health education, together with better laboratory diagnostics to identify carriers, are some measures to control this disease.