title: Assessment and comparative analysis of a rapid diagnostic test (Tubex®) for the diagnosis of typhoid fever among hospitalized children in rural Tanzania.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Typhoid 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.
  
  
  METHODS
  We 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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 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).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This 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.
authors: Translational Research Division, International Vaccine Institute, Seoul, Korea. bnley@ivi.int
authors: Benedikt
authors: B
authors: Ley
authors: Kamala
authors: K
authors: Thriemer
authors: Shaali M
authors: SM
authors: Ame
authors: George M
authors: GM
authors: Mtove
authors: Lorenz
authors: L
authors: von Seidlein
authors: Ben
authors: B
authors: Amos
authors: Ilse C E
authors: IC
authors: Hendriksen
authors: Abraham
authors: A
authors: Mwambuli
authors: Aikande
authors: A
authors: Shoo
authors: Deok R
authors: DR
authors: Kim
authors: Leon R
authors: LR
authors: Ochiai
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Favorov
authors: John D
authors: JD
authors: Clemens
authors: Harald
authors: H
authors: Wilfing
authors: Jacqueline L
authors: JL
authors: Deen
authors: Said M
authors: SM
authors: Ali
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