WE NEED NEW ANTIBIOTICS: Ancient Killer Is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics, Warns Study. “In spite of having plagued humans for millennia, typhoid fever is rarely considered in developed countries today. But this ancient threat is still very much a danger in our modern world. According to research published in 2022, the bacterium that causes typhoid fever is evolving extensive drug resistance, and is rapidly replacing strains that aren’t resistant.”