TITLE:
Comparative Study of the Widal Test against Stool Culture in the Diagnosis of Suspected Cases of Typhoid Fever in Some Low Income Communities in the Adamawa Region of Cameroon
AUTHORS:
Mariane Lucie Ngueguim, Bernard Viban Tangwa, Victor Ngu Ngwa, Jules Romain Ngueguim, Abdoulmoumini Mamoudou
KEYWORDS:
Salmonella Infections, Stool Culture, Widal Test, Adamawa Region, Cameroon
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.12 No.6,
June
24,
2024
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Infectious diseases constitute a major concern of public health in developing countries. Facilities and well trained staff have been shown to be one of the major obstacles in the rapid and quality diagnosis of these diseases. As such, we carried out an analysis to compare the Widal test and stool culture to identify febrile patients with Salmonella infection. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted to diagnose salmonella infection with out-patients who demonstrated signs of salmonella infection. Serum was harvested from blood collected from 368 (Vina = 234, Mayo Banyo 65, and Djerem = 69) patients accompanied by stool, Widal test was conducted on the spot and stool was taken to a reference laboratory for culture using standard microbiological methods, sociological set up was calculated in percentages, prevalence was calculated using excel while statistical difference was calculated using SPSS. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated to compare the Widal test against stool culture. Results: A total of 368 (50.8% females and 49.2% males) participants took part in the survey. Salmonella prevalence (66.24%) in stool culture in the Vina division was significantly different (p 0.05). The sensitivity,specificity, PPV, and NPV of slide agglutination test against stool culture varied from different areas (Vina: 51.6%, 73.62%, 79.21% and 43.61%; Mayo Banyo: 60.53%, 77.78%, 79.31% and 58.33%; Djerem: 53.18%, 83.73% 73.91% and 67.39%) respectively. Slide agglutination test has a fair agreement with the stool culture (kappa, Vina = 0.202; Mayo Banyo = 0.37 and Djerem = 0.38). Conclusion: Generally, in the three areas of study, the Widal test had a fair correlation with the stool culture; This means the Widal test should not be used alone but in combination with stool culture in the detection of salmonella infections.