Typhoid Fever Burden Among Pregnant Women in Gombe Central Zone, Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33003/fjs-2026-1013-5220Keywords:
Antenatal care, Trimester, Typhoid, Gravidae, Gombe Central ZoneAbstract
Typhoid fever remains a public health concern in endemic settings and may cause serious maternal and fetal complications during pregnancy. Evidence on the burden of typhoid fever among pregnant women and its distribution by maternal age, pregnancy trimester, and gravidity is limited in Gombe Central Zone. This study determined the prevalence of typhoid fever and examined its association with age, trimester, and gravidity among pregnant women in Gombe Central Zone, Nigeria. A cross-sectional study enrolled 600 consenting pregnant women attending antenatal clinics in eight selected health facilities in Akko and Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Areas. Participants were recruited through multistage purposive and consecutive sampling. Serum samples were tested for anti-Salmonella Typhi IgM and IgG antibodies using the Typhidot assay. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 23 using frequencies, percentages, and chi-square tests at p<0.05. Overall Typhidot seropositivity was 21.8% (131/600). The highest prevalence occurred among women aged 16–24 years (24.6%), those in the third trimester (25.4%), and primigravidae (27.7%). However, age, trimester, and gravidity were not significantly associated with typhoid seropositivity (p>0.05). Typhoid seropositivity was common among pregnant women in the study area, but the measured demographic and obstetric characteristics did not significantly explain its occurrence. Antenatal services should strengthen health education on safe water, food hygiene, and sanitation, while improving access to confirmatory diagnosis, timely treatment, and typhoid surveillance.
References
Abu-Raya, B., Michalski, C., Sadarangani, M., and Lavoie, P. M. (2020). Maternal immunological adaptation during normal pregnancy. Frontiers in Immunology, 11, 575197. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.575197
Araoye, M.O. (2004). Research Methodology with Statistics for Health and Sciences, Nathadex Publishers, Ilorin. 115-121.
Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. (2025). Collection of diagnostic venous blood specimens (8th ed.; CLSI standard PRE02).
GBD 2017 Typhoid and Paratyphoid Collaborators. (2019). The global burden of typhoid and paratyphoid fevers: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 19(4), 369-381. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30685-6
Gombe State Government. (2020). Gombe State official diary and statistical yearbook. Gombe: Ministry of Information.
Kim, C., Goucher, G. R., Tadesse, B. T., Lee, W., Abbas, K., and Kim, J. H. (2023). Associations of water, sanitation, and hygiene with typhoid fever in case control studies: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Infectious Diseases, 23, 562. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-023-08452-0
Klemm, Elizabeth J., Shakoor, Sadia., Page, Andrew J., Qamar, Farah N., Judge, Kirsten., Saeed, Danish K., Wong, Vanessa K., Dallman, Timothy J., Nair, Sushmita., Baker, Stephen., Pickard, Derek J. and Dougan, Gordon. (2018). Emergence of an extensively drug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi clone in Pakistan. mBio, 9(1), e00105-18.
Kwala, K. H., and Asika, A. I. (2020). Prevalence of typhoid infection among pregnant women attending Specialist Hospital Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. Journal of Applied Life Sciences International, 23(12), 93 to 101. https://doi.org/10.9734/jalsi/2020/v23i1230210
Muhammad, Z. I., Musa, A. E., Ali, N., Faith, O. I., Muhammad, A. I., & Abubakar, B. S. (2024). Epidemiology of Salmonella Typhi among pregnant women attending antenatal care at General Hospital Keffi, Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Journal of African Innovation and Advanced Studies 4(5), 34-42.
Nguefack, F., Kameni, P.A., Ndzi, E.N., Tchokouaha, L.R.Y. and Nansseu, J.R.N. (2021). Performance of the Widal test and Typhidot immunoassay for the diagnosis of typhoid fever in febrile patients in the West Region of Cameroon. International Journal of Microbiology, 2021, 1–8.
Nigerian Meteorological Agency [NMA], (2019). Seasonal Rainfal Prediction (SRP). Abuja, Nigeria.
Okolo, P. N., and Abu, O. (2020). On optimal control and cost-effectiveness analysis for typhoid fever model. FUDMA Journal of Sciences, 4(3), 437–445. https://doi.org/10.33003/fjs-2020-0403-258.
Radhakrishnan, A., Als, D., Mintz, E. D., Crump, J. A., Stanaway, J., Breiman, R. F., and Bhutta, Z. A. (2018). Introductory article on global burden and epidemiology of typhoid fever. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 99(3), 4-9. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.18-0032
Sam, E. K., Alagbo, J., Asamoah, A., Ansah, F., Tandoh, K. Z., Amenga-Etego, L. N., and Duodu, S. (2024). Diagnostic performance of Typhidot RDT in diagnosis of typhoid fever and antibiotic resistance characterisation in a cross sectional study in Southern Ghana. BMC Infectious Diseases, 24, 1262. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-024-10160-2
Sethi, Sunil. And Vij, Richa (2017). Vertical transmission of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi infection in pregnancy: A case report and review. Case Reports in Infectious Diseases. 4(11): 3-7.
Stanaway, Jeffrey D., Reiner, Robert C., Blacker, Brigette F., Goldberg, Ellen M., Khalil, Ibrahim A., Troeger, Christopher E., Andrews, Jason R. and Bhutta, Zulfiqar A. (2019). The global burden of typhoid and paratyphoid fevers: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 19(4), 369–381. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30685-6
Sulaiman, K., and Sarwari, A. R. (2007). Culture confirmed typhoid fever and pregnancy. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 11(4), 337-341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2006.09.007
Touchan, F., Hall, J. D., and Lee, R. V. (2009). Typhoid fever during pregnancy: Case report and review. Obstetric Medicine, 2(4), 161-163. https://doi.org/10.1258/om.2009.090020
Vigliani, M. B., and Bakardjiev, A. I. (2013). First trimester typhoid fever with vertical transmission of Salmonella Typhi, an intracellular organism. Case Reports in Medicine, 2013, 973297. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/973297
Wijedoru, L., Mallett, S., and Parry, C. M. (2017). Rapid diagnostic tests for typhoid and paratyphoid enteric fever. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2017(5), CD008892. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008892.pub2
World Health Organization. (2023). Typhoid fever: Fact sheet. Geneva: World Health Organization
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Alhaji Sarki, Muhammad Abdul Qadeer, Micah Saleh Pukuma, Alhaji Abdullah Hamza, Ishaku Muhammad, Rufa'i Ali, Abubakar Sulaiman Bafeto
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
