COMPARATIVE DIAGNOSIS OF TYPHOID FEVER BY POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION AND WIDAL TEST IN SOUTHERN DISTRICTS (BANNU, LAKKI MARWAT AND D.I.KHAN) OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA, PAKISTAN

Typhoid fever is a major dilemma in developing nations, despite the antibiotic use and new antibiotics discovery. Blood culture and serological tests (especially Widal test) that are regularly performed in Pakistan for diagnosis provide objectionable levels of false negative and false positive results, respectively. The present study was carried out at Kohat University of science and technology, Kohat, Pakistan from January 2013 to December 2013. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was compared with Widal test and blood culture for blood samples of 96 patients. In this study, blood from 25 healthy individuals was collected as a negative control. The detection rate of PCR was maximum (64.5%) followed by Widal test (26%) and blood culture (14.5%). Among the 82 (85.4%) samples that were found negative with blood culture, 48 (58.5%) were successfully detected by PCR and 11 (13.4%) were positive for the Widal test. Findings of this study showed that PCR is a fast and reliable technique for diagnosis of typhoid fever in suspected cases, as compared to frequently used conventional techniques like blood culture and Widal test.