Abstract
Background: In developing countries like India, Enteric fever is endemic. Widal agglutination test is used for its diagnosis. In a single serum sample the only test frequently relied upon for laboratory diagnosis is Widal test. A rising titre in paired sera or in single sera test if the antibody titres are higher than the cut - off value the test is considered positive. But in our area normal baseline titres in various individuals and cut-off values have not been established. So the aim of our study was to determine the base line titres of antibodies in apparently healthy individuals and thereby define the significant titres of the Widal test.
Materials & Methods: 170 samples after being screened by Widal slide agglutination test and were further confirmed by the Quantitative tube agglutination test, to find out the baseline Widal titre among various individuals.
Result: The most frequently recorded titre for O agglutinins were 1:40 and for the H agglutinins were 1:40. The baseline anti-H agglutinin titre of the paratyphoid A (H) were 1:40 and Paratyphoid B (H) were 1:20.
Conclusion: In our locality for the diagnosis of enteric fever if a single Widal titre is used, probably the most appropriate cut-off titres against S. typhi being ≥ 1 in 80 for anti-O and > 1 in 80 for anti-‘H’ agglutinins.
Keywords: Widal test, Slide agglutination test, Tube agglutination test, Cut-off titre, Baseline titre.
References
1. Abdul Razak SH, Abbas Abood AD, Adawia Fadil A. The distribution of anti – salmonella antibodies in the sera of healthy blood donors in baquba city. irqui j comm. med 2011; 24: 241-44.
2. Deepak P, Komal Raj R, Bimala S, Suresh Raj K, Bishnu Raj T. baseline titre and diagnostic cut off value for widal test: A comparative study in healthy blood donors and clinically suspected of enteric fever. JHAS 2012; 2:22-26.
3. Crump JA, Luby Sp, Minz ED. The global burden of typhoid fever. Bulletin world health organization 2004; 82:346-53.
4. Jeyakumari et al., Study Of The Baseline Widal Titres Among Healthy Individuals Of Rural Population In Pondicherry. Int J Med Res Health Sci.2015;4(2):322-26.
5. Lateef AO, Aprileona LK. Widal agglutin-ation test-100 years later: Still plagued by controversy. Postgrad Med J 2000; 76: 80-84.
6. Gilles RR. Cruickshank R, Dugid JP, Marmion BP, Swain RH. Salmonella: The Widal test. Medical Microbiology. 12th ed, AP314, Edinburg, Churchill Livingstone.
7. Punia JN et.al. Determination of the baseline Widal titres from Chandigarh. IJMM.2003;21(2):144.
8. Bharat MP et.al. Distribution of antibody titre against Salmonella enterica among healthy individuals in Nepal. Annals of Clin Microbiol anti-microbial. 2009;8: 112-18.
9. Bharat M P, Rajendra K, Shyam KM, Janak K. Distribution of antibody titer against Salmonella enterica among healthy individuals in Nepal. Annals of Clinical Microbiology and Antimicrobials 2009; 8: 1-7.
10. Collee JG, Fraser AG, Marmion BP, Simmons A. Mackie and Mc Cartney Practical Medical Microboiology. 1996; 14th ed, New York, Churchill Livingston; 38.
11. Madhusudhan NS et.al. Determination of Baseline Widal Titre among Healthy Population. Int J of Biomed Res. 2012;3(12):437-38.
12. Shekhar Pal et al. Baseline Widal Titre In Hilly Areas Of Garhwal Region Of Uttarakhand, India. J Clin and Diag Res. 2013;7(3):437-40.
13. Kulkarni ML et.al. Value of a single Widal test in the diagnosis of typhoid fever. Indian J Paediatr.1994;31:1373-77.
Corresponding Author
Nidhi Sharma
Sukh Sagar Medical College & Hospital
Mukanwara Road, Jabalpur, M.P, India
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +918839744727
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i4.96
