Protection for 6-12 months can be achieved with a gamma globulin injection. Typhoid Fever . Typhoid fever is caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi and is transmitted through the fecal-oral route. The onset of typhoid fever brings flu-like symptoms, including chills, fever, headache, weakness, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, and body aches. A rash on the chest and abdomen may also occur, consisting of small pink blotches.
Antibiotics provide a treatment regimen, and a vaccine is available.
Shistosomiasis is ranked second only to malaria among diseases caused by human parasites. Also called bilharziasis, shistosomiasis infects 200,000,000 people world-wide every year and is endemic to 74 developing countries, including Costa Rica. The diseases are caused by five species of waterborne flatworms, or blood flukes, also called shistosomes. Of the five types of shistosomes, only Shistosoma mansoni occurs in the New World, and it causes a disease called intestinal shistosomiasis. Infection results from penetration of the skin by the water-borne flatworms.