Bio Farma Develops Vaccine For Typhus

Nusa Dua, Bali (Antara Bali) - Indonesia`s leading vaccine manufacturer, Bio Farma, is developing a typhus vaccine to encourage the prevention and eradication of typhus in Indonesia, director of marketing of Bio Farma Mahendra Suhardono said here Saturday.

"We hope in the near future that the vaccine will be useful for the Indonesian community," he added.

According to Mahendra, the state-owned enterprise is responsible to achieve vaccine self-sufficiency by fulfilling the need in vaccines through the use of domestic resources.

The typhus vaccine, named Typhoid Conjugate, is in the clinical test phase and expected to be in use by 2018.

Typhus has remained a threat in a number of developing countries in Asia and Africa, including Indonesia.

According to Dr. Bonita Effendi from the University of Indonesia, there are several provinces in Indonesia still reporting typhus infections above 1.6 percent, among others being Aceh, Bengkulu, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Banten, West Java, West Papua, Papua, Gorontalo and East Kalimantan.

"The death risk due to typhus is 1.25 percent, and this is due to low public awareness to practice clean and healthy lifestyle behaviors, such as washing hands before eating, and using clean water for various household needs," she added.

Therefore, the best way to avoid contracting the disease is by maintaining clean and healthy life styles, Bonita said.

Data obtained from the Coalition against Typhoid (CaT) mentions that at the global level, typhus has attacked 21 million people, mostly children under 15 years old, with 216,000 people dying annually.

Meanwhile, there are 3.4 million invasive non-typhoid salmonella disease cases, in which 681,316 people have died. (WDY)