ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Typhoid fever caused by Salmonella Typhi continues to be a major health problem in spite of the use of antibiotics and the development of newer antibacterial drugs. Inability to make an early laboratory diagnosis and resort to empirical therapy, often lead to increased morbidity and mortality in cases of typhoid fever. This study was aimed to optimize a nested PCR for early diagnosis of typhoid fever and using it as a diagnostic tool in culture negative cases of suspected typhoid fever. Methods: Eighty patients with clinical diagnosis of typhoid fever and 40 controls were included in the study. The blood samples collected were subjected to culture, Widal and nested PCR targeting the flagellin gene of S. Typhi. Results: The sensitivity of PCR on blood was found to be 100 per cent whereas the specificity was 76.9 per cent. The positive predictive value (PPV) of PCR was calculated to be 76.9 per cent with an accuracy of 86 per cent. None of the 40 control samples gave a positive PCR. Interpretation & conclusions: Due to its high sensitivity and specificity nested PCR can be used as a useful tool to diagnose clinically suspected, culture negative cases of typhoid fever.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Early Diagnosis , Flagellin/diagnosis , Humans , Immunoenzyme Techniques/methods , Polymerase Chain Reaction/methods , Salmonella enterica/genetics , Salmonella enterica/isolation & purification , Sensitivity and Specificity , Serologic Tests/methods , Typhoid Fever/diagnosis , Typhoid Fever/geneticsABSTRACT
The antioxidant activities of the crude hydro-alcoholic extract (CE) and its four fractions viz. methanol (MF), ethyl acetate (EF), n-Butanol (BF), and precipitated aqueous (PAF) of A.racemosus roots tested decreased in the order of EF > MF > CE > BF > PAF when investigated by DPPH free radical scavenging assay. Under iron induced lipid peroxidation almost similar results were observed except that the activity was more in PAF than BF. Hepatoprotective activity of the extracts was also demonstrable in vivo by the inhibition of–CCl4 induced formation of lipid peroxides in the liver of rats by pretreatment with the extracts. CCl4–induced hepatotoxicity in rats, as judged by the raised serum enzymes viz. glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase and total and direct bilirubin as well as oxidant enzyme viz. malon dialdehyde were prevented, while antioxidant enzymes viz. superoxide dismutase, reduced glutathione and catalase were elevated by pretreatment with the extracts, demonstrating the potent hepatoprotective action of the roots of A. racemosus.
ABSTRACT
The laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis is fraught with several problems. Isolation of Leptospira by culture has a low sensitivity and the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) is time consuming To overcome these problems, a rapid latex agglutination test (LAT) has been standardized for the detection of antileptospiral antibodies in serum samples from suspected cases of leptospirosis. We compared the efficiency of the LAT to a commercially available IgM ELISA and MAT. A total of 150 serum samples were tested by LAT, IgM ELISA, and MAT. The positivity was 26.7%, 26% and 24% respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of LAT as compared to MAT was 90.62 and 91.96% respectively. Even though LAT and ELISA showed similar results, its rapidity and simplicity made latex agglutination test more suitable as a rapid screening test.