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
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.