Serodiagnosis of Typhoid fever using Widal Test and Onsite Typhoid IgG/IgM2.0 - Rapid Test

Abstract

Salmonellae are important pathogens affecting humans health, remaining a major global health problem. The aim of this study was to compare between the Widal test and Onsite Typhoid IgG/IgM2.0 –Rapid test for the diagnosis of Salmonella typhi. A total of 150 blood specimens were collected from suspected patients with enteric fever attending Omdurman Teaching Hospital during March to May 2012. The samples were serologically tested using the Widal test (tube and slide methods) in comparison with the Onsite Typhoid IgG/IgM2.0 –Rapid test, the slide and tube method were used to screen for antibodies of Salmonella typhi and to evaluate the amount of antibody titer in each specimen. The results revealed that the tube test was superior in detection of enteric fever than Onsite Typhoid IgG/IgM 2.0 –Rapid test in diagnosing chronic infection. Where as the Onsite Typhoid IgG/IgM2.0 –Rapid test is better than the tube method for diagnosis of acute enteric fever, yet it detected more false positives. The study conducted that the Widal test (tube method), was superior than slide method and Onsite Typhoid IgG/IgM 2.0 –Rapid test for detection of chronic enteric fever cases. Further research is warranted to compare the two methods with the gold standard culture method to dectect infection with Salmonella typhi.