ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of Typhidot test in patients with acute febrile illness taking blood culture as gold standard
Study Design: Cross-sectional validation study
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Combined Military Hospital Kohat, from Mar 2016 to Oct 2016
Material and Methods: In this study 211 patients with acute febrile illness were included. All patients had Typhidot IgM test done along with blood cultures, blood counts, chemistries and relevant diagnostic tests. Patients were divided into two groups based on blood culture results and both groups were compared in terms of positivity for Typhidot. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated using SPSS v 20. Chi square was applied to assess the association between Typhidot and blood culture results
Results: Out of total 211patients, 49 patients had typhoid fever [culture positive] and 162 had non-typhoidal illnesses [culture negative]. Typhidot IgM was positive in 47 [95.9percent] cases of typhoid fever and in 155 [73.5percent] cases of non-typhoidal fevers. The sensitivity of Typhidot for diagnosis of typhoid fever was 95.9percent and specificity was 26.5percent
Conclusion: Our study reveals that Typhidot IgM has high sensitivity for typhoid fever but specificity and diagnostic accuracy are very low. Nevertheless, a high negative predictive value means it can help rule out the disease in suspected cases