Authors
Maha S. Hamdy, Safaa Abdel-Rahman, Adbel-Mgeed Mostafa, and Sahar Abd-El Hameed.
Abstract
Background: Enteric fever is a potentially severe systemic febrile illness that is usually presented with non- specific symptoms and signs. Its diagnosis is usually confirmed by blood culture and stool culture besides the Widal agglutination test. The delayed results of microbiologic examination and the unreliable results of Widal test in endemic countries makes the search for a rapid and reliable method for diagnosis of typhoid fever more mandatory.
Objectives: This study aimed to compare the performance of the Enterocheck WB® test as a rapid serological test to that of the Widal test for diagnosis of typhoid fever in acute stage taking blood culture as the gold standard method.
Methodology: A total of 154 patients that had been clinically suspected as typhoid fever were investigated by the blood culture, Widal tube agglutination test and Enterocheck WB® test in addition to 46 healthy controls were investigated by Widal tube agglutination test and Enterocheck WB® test.
Results: Enterocheck WB® test showed higher sensitivity and specificity, 86% and 89% than Widal tube agglutination test, 81% and 71% respectively. Enterocheck test had higher sensitivity when fever duration <5 days (100%).
Conclusion: Enterocheck WB® test is a useful, rapid easy serological test for early diagnosis of typhoid fever especially for primary healthcare centers and outpatient clinics as well as hospitals.
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