Identification of sensitive and specific markers for typhoid fever: the rapid detection

ABSTRACT

Typhoid fever is common in Pakistan and several developing countries, especially among children. There has been a continuous search for a simple and reliable test that can be carried out in a small laboratory, for an early and rapid diagnosis. For this purpose, Typhidot test and TUBEX test have been evaluated in the present study. Blood samples from 131 patients with age range of 2-10 years presented with 4 days of fever. The patients were recommended for the detection of 1gM and IgG antibodies to Salmonella typi. Typoidot test was positive for both IgG and 1gM antibodies to S. typhi in our samples. Typhidot test gave a sensitivity of 100 percent and specificity of 80 percent when bacteraemic patients were analyzed. It has been concluded that the Typohidot is a quick and easy-to-perform test that requires no special equipment and training of staff for interpretation of results. The ELISA results for 1gM and IgG were more sensitive and specific than any combination of the Widal test, and hence it could be a useful tool for the serologic diagnosis of typhoidal fever with a single blood sample