Detection of Salmonella typhi D, Vi, and d antigens, by slide coagglutination, in urine from patients with typhoid fever

Abstract

Salmonella typhi antigens D, Vi, and d were detected in the urine of 59 out of 61 (97%) bacteriologically confirmed typhoid fever patients by slide coagglutination with monovalent antisera coupled to protein A-rich staphylococci. These antigens were also detected in the urine of an additional 22 patients, 16 of whom subsequently demonstrated seroconversion by S. typhi 0 antibody agglutination, but from whom the bacterium was not isolated. The remaining 13 patients had negative urine coagglutination results, no isolation of S. typhi from blood or stool specimens, and no demonstration of seroconversion. These results suggest that the method of slide coagglutination of urine can be used to screen patients with suspected typhoid fever with a high degree of reliability. The method may also have potential importance in the diagnosis of typhoid when the bacterium is not isolated.

Rapid diagnostic tests for non-malarial febrile illness in the tropics

“…The detection of S . Typhi antigens in clinical samples has been shown to have comparable accuracy to antibody‐detection tests . A valuable alternative use for putative RDTs based on such assays could be the rapid identification of S .…”

Multiplex PCR for differential diagnosis of emerging typhoidal pathogens directly from blood samples

“…Different microbiological and serological techniques have been used to diagnose enteric fever. These techniques include culture of blood, bone marrow, faeces, urine [4], duodenal string culture [5], and measurement of specific antibodies by the Widal test [6], ELISA [7] and immunofluorescence [8]. These techniques have limitations in terms of specificity and sensitivity and are being replaced to a great extent by the use of PCR in routine diagnostic laboratories [9][10][11].…”

Rapid identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei in blood culture supernatants by a coagglutination assay

“…A variety of immunological tests have also been developed, but these have not been used extensively in clinical laboratories. The coagglutination test is used widely for the detection of various aetiological agents causing infectious diseases, and can be performed with faeces [7,8], urine [9], sera [10,11] and blood culture supernatants [12]. The present study describes a coagglutination test to detect B. pseudomallei in the blood culture supernatants of patients with pyrexial illness.…”