Typhoid is a water-and-food disease of exactly the places our donors come from — so the rule matters. Active typhoid defers you completely; full recovery restores you.
While sick or on treatment
Typhoid bacteria live in your blood during the illness, which is precisely what screening exists to keep out of units. Add to that the antibiotics course and the weakness the fever leaves behind — donation is off the table until all three clear: treatment finished, symptoms gone, strength back.
After recovery
Declare the history at screening, show you are fully recovered, and donate normally. Treated typhoid without complications is not a permanent bar — it is a several-week pause.
The vaccine question
- Injectable typhoid vaccine — no waiting period; donate as usual
- Oral live typhoid course — wait about two weeks after the last dose (live-vaccine rule)
The wider point
Typhoid, dengue, malaria — Assam and India’s seasonal fevers take a rotating cast of donors off the register every few months. If you are the one who never gets the fever going around, the register needs you twice as much.