A new survey has revealed that many Scots are unaware there is a typhoid vaccine despite the number of people being struck down by the disease continuing to rise.

An awareness campaign launched today showed that 55% of Scots were unaware of the existence of the vaccine to combat the disease which has risen by 69% over the last 5 years. A milder strain of the disease called Paratyphoid shows an even bigger increase - up 78% over the last five years.

Typhoid is mainly found in India and Pakistan and in Scotland 70% of typhoid cases are acquired outside the UK. The Asian population of Scotland is 55,000 with many originating from the danger areas and many travel back there to visit family members.

Globally, two million deaths per year are prevented by vaccination and the World Health Organisation estimates that this figure could reach 4 to 5 million annually by 2015 provided the take up of the vaccine remains strong.