WHO: How vaccines can help prevent antibiotic resistance - Zimbabwe’s response to drug resistant outbreaks of typhoid and cholera (11 September 2021)

Summary

Antibiotic resistance is a natural phenomenon that happens when bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designed to kill them. This case study focuses on large outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant strains of cholera and typhoid in Zimbabwe. It describes the steps taken to tackle the outbreaks, including a mass typhoid Vi-conjugate vaccine (TCV) vaccination campaign from February to March 2019 in nine suburbs of Harare that were severely affected by the outbreak.