Diagnosis and Treatment of Typhoid Fever and Associated Prevailing Drug Resistance in Northern Ethiopia.
OBJECTIVE
To determine diagnostic value of the Widal test, treatment pattern of febrile patients and antimicrobial drug susceptibility pattern of blood isolates.


METHODS
Using cross sectional methods, blood samples were collected for culture and Widal test from 502 febrile outpatients attending Mekelle hospital and Mekelle health center with similar symptoms to typhoid. Sensitivity, specificity for anti-TH and anti-TO titers using culture confirmed typhoid fever cases, and Kappa agreement between Titer and slide Widal tests were calculated. Treatment pattern of patients and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the blood isolates was assessed.


RESULTS
From the 502 febrile patients, 8(1.6%) of them had culture-proven typhoid fever. However, patients who have results indicative of recent infection by O and H antigens of the Widal slide agglutination test were 343 (68.5%), with specificity and sensitivity of 33% and 100%, respectively. Over prescription of antibiotics was seen by Widal slide test for Ciprofloxacin 268 (76.1%), Amoxicillin- Clavulanic acid 9(2.6%), Amoxicillin 8(2.4%) and Chloranphenicol 8(2.4%). Tube titer positivity was seen in 23(5.3%) patients with 75% sensitivity and 95.8% specificity. Widal slide and Tube titer tests showed poor agreement for both antigens (kappa=0.02 for O) and (Kappa=0.09 for H). A single anti-TH titer of ≥ 1:160 and anti-TO titer ≥ 1:80 higher in our study showed an indication for typhoid fever infection. Drug resistance pattern of blood isolates ranges from 0-89.7% for gram positive and 0-100% for Gram negative, with an overall multi-drug resistance rate of 61.7%.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients were wrongly diagnosed and treated for typhoid fever by Widal test. The tube titration method was relatively good but still had poor sensitivity. Blood isolates showed multi drug resistance, which may be due to the indiscriminate prescription as seen in this study. Based on our results, the slide Widal test is not helpful in the diagnosis of typhoid, hence other tests with rapid, feasible, better sensitivity and specificity are urgently needed in Ethiopia.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia. Electronic address: araya13e25@gmail.com.
Araya Gebreyesus
AG
Wasihun
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia.
Letemichael Negash
LN
Wlekidan
Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Mekelle University, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Senay Aregawi
SA
Gebremariam
Department of Pediatric medicine, School of Medicine, Mekelle University, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Abadi Luel
AL
Welderufael
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia.
Saravanan
S
Muthupandian
Department of Biology, College Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
Tadesse Dejenie
TD
Haile
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Science, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia.
Tsehaye Asmelash
TA
Dejene
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D005002:Ethiopia; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012485:Salmonella typhi / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014435:Typhoid Fever / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D055815:Young Adult
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
Diagnosis; Febrile-patients; Resistance; Sensitivity; Specificity; Treatment; Typhoid; Widal test