Journal of Bacteriology & Parasitology

Abstract

Modified Serological Method for Determining Significant Antibody Titre to Salmonella Infection in Endemic Area

Alo Moses Nnaemeka and Ugah Uchenna Iyioku

Enteric fever is caused by antigenic variant group of bacteria known as Salmonella species. The disease is common in most developing countries being contacted though contaminated water, food and poor personal hygiene. The most significant challenge in the treatment of infected patients is misdiagnosis leading to high morbidity and mortality rate. We devised a time efficient technique which has been compared with tube agglutination method and culture and found it to be very efficient, sensitive and reliable. Blood samples from patients clinically diagnosed of enteric fever were collected and a 1:4 dilution of serum in saline was used for direct agglutination test. Results with visible agglutination were considered as significant and it compared favorably with tube agglutination and culture result. A total of two thousand two hundred and fifty specimens were tested. Among this, 1390 were positive for the