Global burden, trends, and inequalities for typhoid and paratyphoid fever among children younger than 15 years over the past 30 years.

Background: Typhoid and paratyphoid fever, collectively known as enteric fever, are systemic infections caused by Salmonella enterica and are highly prevalent in children. We aimed to describe the global burden, trends, and inequalities of enteric fever among children under 15 years from 1990 to 2019 based on data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2019 (GBD 2019).

Methods: In this secondary analysis of GBD 2019, we extracted data for incident cases, deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) as measures of enteric fever burden. We estimated the average annual percentage changes (AAPC) in enteric fever incidence, mortality, and DALYs rate to quantify trends over time. Cross-country inequalities in enteric fever incidence were measured using the slope index of inequality and concentration index.

Results: In 2019, the global cases of typhoid and paratyphoid were 4 833 282 and 1 793 172, respectively, both lower than those in 1990. On secondary analysis, paratyphoid incidence decreased at a faster rate than typhoid from 1990 to 2009, whereas the incidence of paratyphoid (AAPC = -3.78, 95% CI: -4.07, -3.49) declined slower than that of typhoid (AAPC = -4.32, 95% CI: -4.50, -4.13) from 2010-2019 (P < 0.05) at the global level. The incidence burden of enteric fever increased in Australasia (AAPC = 1.28, 95% CI: 0.77, 1.78) and Western Europe (AAPC = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.44, 1.11). Death and DALYs burden in low socio-demographic index (SDI) region showed an stable trend. A significant reduction in SDI-related inequality occurred, with the concentration index falling from -0.31 in 1990 to -0.22 in 2019.

Conclusions: The global disease burden of enteric fever and the magnitude of inequalities across countries have declined since 1990, but low SDI countries remain a region of concern. Travellers from Oceania and Western Europe to endemic regions should be particularly aware of the risk of enteric fever.