title: Determination of baseline widal titres amongst apparently healthy blood donors in ahmednagar, maharashtra, India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Enteric fever is endemic in all parts of India. The Widal agglutination test is widely used for its diagnosis. But the interpretation of Widal test depends upon the baseline titre which is prevalent amongst healthy individuals in a particular geographical area.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Present study was undertaken to establish the normal baseline titre in apparently healthy blood donors and also to determine cutoff values for the Widal test.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and three (103) sera were tested by the Widal tube agglutination test from January 2012 to February 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty four (81.55%) sera were positive for agglutinins (titre ≥ 1:20) and the remaining 19 were negative. 31.64% sera were positive for agglutinins of 'O' antigen of Salmonella typhi (TO) at a titre of 1:40, 33.87% sera were positive for 'H' antigen of Salmonella typhi (TH) at a titre of 1:40 and 38.46% and 36.84% sera were positive for 'H' antigen of Salmonella paratyphi A (AH) and Salmonella paratyphi B (BH) respectively, both at a titre of 1:80.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Therefore, the baseline titre for TO and TH was noted to be 1:40 and that for AH and BH was noted to be 1:80 and therefore, the cutoff level for TO and TH was ≥ 1:80 and that for AH and BH was ≥ 1:160.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Vikhe Patil Medical College & Hospital, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Shraddha Prasad
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Gunjal
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Vikhe Patil Medical College & Hospital, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Prasad Niranjan
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Gunjal
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Vikhe Patil Medical College & Hospital, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Narendra Khandu
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.affiliation: Assistant Lecturer, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Vikhe Patil Medical College & Hospital, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Nagaraju
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vanaparthi
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Vikhe Patil Medical College & Hospital, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Anil Vasant
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Nalawade
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Vikhe Patil Medical College & Hospital, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Swati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Professor & Head, Department of Microbiology, Dr. Vikhe Patil Medical College & Hospital, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Kher Sudheer
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Keshav
keywords: Baseline; Salmonella paratyphi A; Salmonella paratyphi B.; Salmonella typhi; Widal