A preliminary report on comparison of tube and slide agglutination tests in the diagnosis of typhoid

Abstract

A comparison between the standard agglutination test (SAT) by the conventional tube test and a slide agglutination method was carried out in 11 patients with a clinical and serological diagnosis of typhoid and 54 patients with nontyphoidal illnesses. 55perc. of patients in the first group had a negative O titre using the slide agglutination tets. There was a 73perc. discrepancy between the 2 tests in the O titre in the first group and 56perc. and 50perc. discrepancy in the 2nd and 3rd groups respectively. The H antibody titre gave more comparable results in the 2 tests. Further validation of the slide agglutination test is required before it is recommended for clinical practice