Australia's first case of extensively drug-resistant typhoid has been confirmed in a 20-month-old girl, who was taken to hospital suffering with high fever and vomiting.

Professor Raina MacIntyre, head of the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute at UNSW, said the problem with having fewer antibiotics was the infection could be deadly if left untreated. "You can prevent people dying by treating them with antibiotics, and if the bacteria is resistant to all the available antibiotics then your chance of treating them successfully is diminished," she said. READ MORE