Each year nearly 216,000 to 600,000 people worldwide lose their lives due to typhoid. Typhoid fever is caused by a strain of salmonella. It can be transmitted via contaminated food or water.

Typherix, a new vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has offered a hope to save lives from the grip of typhoid. A recent study has proven ability of typherix to fight this bacterial disease.

Typherix is 80% effective in shielding children under five from typhoid fever. The study showed that typherix can reduce the number of people from getting sick from typhoid by reducing overall infection rates.

The researchers arrived at the conclusion after analyzing data collected from the test, conducted in two wards of an Indian slum inhabited by 60,000 people.

They found that typherix was effective in 61 percent of the people exposed to the disease. It worked well in 80% children under five. Despite the fact that only half community member were recruited in the study, typherix slowed down the spread of typhoid by 57% in the Indian slum community.

The researchers said: "This protection for children under the age of 5 years is important because this age group has been shown to be at high risk for typhoid fever in many areas where the disease is endemic."