TYPHOID FEVER
Enteric fever is a common infection in India,caused by Salmonella Typhi
Drug resistance is so common and prevention is the best option
It is spread through contaminated food and water
WIDAL TEST is usually used to diagnose this condition in practice.A tube agglutination test is preferred over slide test.
A fourfold rise in titer in paired samples 10-14 days is considered diagnostic.
A single titre of atleast 1:160 for both O and H is considered diagnostic
It is not useful in first week of onset of disease
Blood Culture is the gold standard
Bacteria can be isolated from Blood,Urine,Stool ,Bone marrow etc
Sensitivity of blood culture maximum in first week (90%) and drops by 4 th week (40%)
Tests such as TUBEX and TYPHIDOT detecting IgM antibodies have not proven superior to Widal Test
DANE has facilities for all culture and sensitivity tests ,where we use automated culture techniques using most recent VITEK system to improve rapid isolation and better sensitivity studies
We undertake WIDAL by Tube agglutination
Typhoid has a very effective conjugated vaccine which gives life long protection with two doses,it can be given after 6 months of age
Personal hygeine ,proper hand washing and clean drinking water is the mainstay in prevention