| Abstract: | Investigations with a view to the development and trial of a slide coagglutination test system for the detection of specific Salmonella typhi antigens have been made. As a result, diagnostic agents with sensitivity to group D Salmonella lipopolysaccharides and Vi-antigen, equal to 1 X 10(-5) to 1 X 10(-6) g/l, have been obtained. Specimens of saliva, urine and fecal filtrates from 61 adult patients with bacteriologically confirmed typhoid fever and 54 practically healthy persons have been studied. The coagglutination test has been positive with specimens from 90 +/- 4% of typhoid fever patients and, within the first 5 days of the disease, with those from 85 +/- 7% of such patients. The slide coagglutination test with saliva specimens has been found to be more informative than that with urine specimens. The data obtained in these investigations indicate that the slide coagglutination test is highly sensitive and specific, which offers good prospects for its use as a simple, economic and demonstrative method for the early tentative diagnosis of typhoid fever. |
