Abstract
Tubex™ and Typhidot®, rapid tests for typhoid fever, performed well in evaluations conducted in hospital settings among patients with culture-confirmed typhoid fever. We evaluated these tests in a community clinic in Bangladesh. Blood samples were obtained from 867 febrile patients for culture, Typhidot® and Tubex™ tests. Considering the 43 blood culture-confirmed cases of typhoid fever as typhoid positive and the 24 other confirmed bacteremia cases as typhoid negative, Tubex™ was 60% sensitive and 58% specific, with 90% positive and 58% negative predictive values (NPVs); Typhidot® was 67% sensitive and 54% specific, with 85% positive and 81% NPVs. When blood culture-negative patients and other bacteremia cases together were considered typhoid negative, positive predictive values were only 14% for Tubex™ and 13% for Typhidot®, increasing to only 38% and 20% when restricted to patients with ≥7 days of fever. We conclude that the value of Tubex™ and Typhidot® tests for typhoid fever diagnosis in a community clinic in urban Bangladesh is low.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 381-386 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease |
Volume | 61 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Bangladesh
- Salmonella Typhi
- Tubex™
- Typhidot®
- Typhoid fever
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Microbiology (medical)
- Infectious Diseases