Assessment and comparative analysis of a rapid diagnostic test (Tubex®) for the diagnosis of typhoid fever among hospitalized children in rural Tanzania

BMC Infectious Diseases

Research Article

George M Mtove¹  Harald Wilfing²  Abraham Mwambuli³  Ilse CE Hendriksen⁴  Aikande Shoo⁵  Ben Amos⁵  Said M Ali⁶  Shaali M Ame⁶  John D Clemens⁷  Kamala Thriemer⁷  Deok R Kim⁷  Leon R Ochiai⁷  Michael Favorov⁷  Benedikt Ley⁸  Jacqueline L Deen⁹  Lorenz von Seidlein^1,10 

[1] Amani Centre, National Institute for Medical Research, Tanga, Tanzania;Joint Malaria Program, Tanga, Tanzania;Biocenter, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;Joint Malaria Program, Tanga, Tanzania;Joint Malaria Program, Tanga, Tanzania;Oxford Research Unit, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand;Joint Malaria Program, Tanga, Tanzania;Teule Hospital, Muheza, Tanga, Tanzania;Laboratory Division, Public Health Laboratory (Pemba) - Ivo de Carneri, Chake Chake, Tanzania;Translational Research Division, International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Translational Research Division, International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Biocenter, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;Translational Research Division, International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Joint Malaria Program, Tanga, Tanzania;Translational Research Division, International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea;Joint Malaria Program, Tanga, Tanzania;Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network (APMEN), Menzies School of Health Research, Casuarina, Australia;

关键词: Salmonella;    Tubex;    Widal;    Africa;    Rapid Diagnostic Test;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2334-11-147

 received in 2011-01-25, accepted in 2011-05-24,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTyphoid fever remains a significant health problem in many developing countries. A rapid test with a performance comparable to that of blood culture would be highly useful. A rapid diagnostic test for typhoid fever, Tubex®, is commercially available that uses particle separation to detect immunoglobulin M directed towards Salmonella Typhi O9 lipopolysaccharide in sera.MethodsWe assessed the sensitivity and specificity of the Tubex test among Tanzanian children hospitalized with febrile illness using blood culture as gold standard. Evaluation was done considering blood culture confirmed S. Typhi with non-typhi salmonella (NTS) and non - salmonella isolates as controls as well as with non-salmonella isolates only.ResultsOf 139 samples tested with Tubex, 33 were positive for S. Typhi in blood culture, 49 were culture-confirmed NTS infections, and 57 were other non-salmonella infections. Thirteen hemolyzed samples were excluded. Using all non - S. Typhi isolates as controls, we showed a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 89%. When the analysis was repeated excluding NTS from the pool of controls we showed a sensitivity of 79% and a specificity of 97%. There was no significant difference in the test performance using the two different control groups (p > 0.05).ConclusionThis first evaluation of the Tubex test in an African setting showed a similar performance to those seen in some Asian settings. Comparison with the earlier results of a Widal test using the same samples showed no significant difference (p > 0.05) for any of the performance indicators, irrespective of the applied control group.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Ley et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011