Photo: © Dr. Volker Brinkmann,
MPI for Infection Biology

Name

Salmonella typhi

Also known as

Typhoid fever, enteric fever

Description

(Not) Wanted for

causing typhoid fever, which each year kills about 600,000 people and sickens about 21.5 million.

Modus operandi

• sneaks unnoticed into its victim through contaminated water or food
• causes high fever, stomach pains, diarrhoea, headache, and (sometimes) rose-coloured spots
• if no action taken against infection, will linger for weeks or even months and kill about one in every five persons affected
• in about 5% of survivors, may remain hidden after symptoms disappear, creating carriers who help spread the disease unknowingly

Preferred hideouts

• human bloodstream and intestines

Preferred means of travel

• at first, human faeces, then primarily water
• may also use food, dirty hands, and insects

Associates

• one of the Salmonella crime family
• close relatives known to be responsible for paratyphoid and outbreaks of many food-borne illness (Salmonella food poisoning)

Area of operation

• prefers areas lacking good water-treatment and sewage-disposal systems

Learn about other pathogens on the Most (Not) Wanted list...

Escherichia coli
Campylobacter jejuni
Giardia lamblia
Vibrio cholerae