Publication

Abstract : Introduction: Typhoid fever still continues to be a major public health problem, particularly in developing countries. A simple, reliable, affordable, and rapid diagnostic test has been a long-felt need of the clinicians. We, therefore, prospectively evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of Typhidot (IgM), a serological test to identify IgM antibodies against Salmonella typhi. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in the Department of Microbiology, Apollo Hospital, Bangalore between January 2009 and March 2009 on a total of 186 samples from clinically suspected febrile patients. Blood culture as well as Typhidot test was performed for each of the cases. Results: Out of 61 clinically diagnosed typhoid fever, 50 were blood culture positive for S. typhi all 50 were Typhidot (IgM) positive and 11 were missed out on both. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the test using blood culture as gold standard were 100%, 95.5%, 89.2%, and 100%, respectively for typhoid fever. Conclusion: Typhidot (IgM) test is rapid, easy to perform, and reliable for diagnosing typhoid fever, and useful for small, less equipped laboratories as well as for the laboratories with better facilities in typhoid endemic countries.