I always have typhoid

I am a 25- year- old Civil Servant. Any time I have fever and I go to the hospital for tests, the result always indicates that I have Typhoid. This usually leads me to the long use of antibiotics. I am always careful of what I eat and I therefore don’t believe that I always have Typhoid. Kindly help me.

Mojisola (by SMS)

You are right. It is believed that ‘Typhoid Fever’ has been over diagnosed for a long time in our society. It has been confirmed that the old Laboratory method of testing for Typhoid Fever called ‘Widal Test’ may no longer be adequate for the proper diagnosis of Typhoid Fever. The diagnosis is now believed to be better confirmed by identifying Salmonella typhi in a culture of your blood or other body fluid or tissue. Although performing a culture test is the most common diagnostic test, the total white blood count and its differentials can also be very useful.