Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and typhoid conjugate vaccine introduction on typhoid fever in Nepal.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While typhoid conjugate vaccines (TCV) offer promise for reducing risk in endemic settings, their population-level impact remains unclear. In 2022, Nepal introduced TCV nationally on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted healthcare services, surveillance, and potentially typhoid transmission dynamics, complicating vaccine impact evaluation. We investigated the impact of TCV introduction amid shifting typhoid burden during the pandemic.

Methods

We analyzed blood culture data from four Kathmandu Valley health facilities, comparing culture positivity for Salmonella Typhi across three periods: pre-pandemic (January 2018-March 2020); pandemic, pre-vaccine introduction (April 2020-March 2022); post-vaccine introduction (April 2022-April 2024). We used mult

SUBMITTER: Tamrakar D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12851488 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature