Search

Objective: The diagnosis of enteric fever currently depends upon the isolation of Salmonella from a patient, most commonly by blood culture. This facility is not available in many areas where the disease is endemic. The Widal agglutination test which demonstrates the presence of somatic (O) and flagellar (H) agglutinins to Salmonella in the patient's serum using O and H antigen suspension is one of the most utilized diagnostic tests for typhoid fever in developing countries. In the recent past, a rapid slide test was developed which is now the most commonly used technique in local laboratories because of its convenience. The semiquantitative slide test provides an approximation to the tube test titre. The present study was an attempt to compare the results of semi-quantitative slide agglutination with the quantitative tube method to ascertain any significant difference between two methods. Material and Methods: 300 precollected blood samples of OPD patients were collected over a period of 4 months and subjected to semi-quantitative rapid slide and quantitative tube Widal tests using commercially available Salmonella antigen test kits. Results: From the 300 samples studied, 17(5.7%) serum samples were positive by slide test method while 25(8.7%) seropositive by Tube test method. Present study shows, slight difference in the results obtained by the two methods of Widal test. Conclusion: The Tube Widal test is more sensitive and specific than slide Widal test, especially for rule out prozone phenomena, but slide Widal agglutination test is found to good alternative screening test because less time consuming, easy to perform, cost effective and can be applied in resource poor nations. There is an urgent need for the rational design and evaluation of effective and appropriate diagnostics for typhoid fever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The major objective of this study was to carry out concurrent testing of cervical swab samples with both conventional and fluorescent staining method using Giemsa stain & direct fluorescent antibody stain (DFA) respectively. The study would enable us to establish an appropriate, effective and sensitive method of diagnosis of genital chlamydial infections within the present set-up. Material & methods: The study "A Comparative Study of laboratory Diagnosis of Genital Chlamydial Infections in Women by Immunofluorescence and Conventional Staining Method" was conducted on 50 patients attending the OPD of a tertiary care hospital of Ahmedabad. Results: Out of the total 50 cases tested, four samples were found positive containing dark-purple inclusion bodies of Chlamydia trachomatis surrounding the nuclei of the host cells in Giemsa and the same were positive for elementary bodies of C. trachomatis by the DFA staining. Based on these samples, the prevalence of is 8% only. Conclusion: The present comparative study of Giemsa and DFA staining for Chlamydia trachomatis infections in females showed that both methods are equally sensitive for the detection of the microorganism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]