At least eight people have been diagnosed with typhoid and another 16 were hospitalized with symptoms of the disease in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, health officials said Thursday. The eight contracted a form of typhoid that does not endanger their lives, and some were sent home after hospitalization, said Bakijan Madkarimov, deputy head of the epidemiology department of the Uzbek health ministry. It wasn't immediately clear when they contracted the disease. The other 16 remain under medical observation, Madkarimov said. He said the health ministry has also received reports of typhoid cases outside Tashkent. Poor quality food, such as meat and eggs, and bad water are most likely the source of the outbreak, said Madkarimov. Symptoms of typhoid include fever, rash, stomach ache, slowed pulse, enlarged spleen and delirium. Serious, sometimes fatal complications can develop. The disease can pass from one person to another, mainly through contaminated water and food.
