CHAPTER ONE
1.0   INTRODUCTION
1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
        Typhoid Fever is a world wide disease which creates a very serious public healthy problem. In many under develop countries; the word health organization (WHO) estimated that about one person out of ever hundred (100) is suffering from typhoid fever. The also identify typhoid as a serious public health problem which incidence is highest in children and young adults between 5-19 years old.
        Typhoid fever is a systematic disease caused by dissemination of salmonella typhoid or salmonella paratyphoid mainly characterized by fever was called because of it’s common similarity to typhus. It was clearly defined pathologically as a unique disease of it’s own, it is a common world wide illness, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the faces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium salmonella enterica. The bacteria then perforate through the intestinal wall and are phagocytosed by macrophages.
        According to medial dictionary (Budelka, K.G. 1971), which reveals the typhoid fever as an infection which is usually spread by contamination of food, milk or water supply with salmonella typhi (S. typhil), either directly by sewage or indirectly by flies or by faulty personal hygiene. Symptomless carries harbouring the germ in the gall bladder and excreting it in their stools are the main sources of  out breaks of disease in this country. The average incubation period is 10-14 days. A progressive fedric illness marks the onset of disease which develops as the germ invades tymphoid tissues, including that of the small intestine (peyers patches) to profuse diarrhocal (pea soup) stools which may become frankly haemorrhagic, ultimate recovery usually begins at the end of the third week. A rose coloured rash may appear on the upper abdomen and back at the end of the first week.
1.2   STATE OF PROBLEM
        Over the last decade, there has been alarming increase in the rate of recorded cases of typhoid fever in our various hospitals especially in Abia state. This has led to a very serious questions on the minds of the citizenry in particular and the professionals in our medical field in general. Ordinary, since typhoid fever is generally associated with a lot of symptoms such as fever headache, cough etc. these however make it a complicated disease with a very serious economic and social effect on the victims. This study seeks to find the prevalent rate of typhoid fever and suggest possible solutions in preventing it.