Prevalence of Salmonella Typhi Among Patients in Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba Abia State, Nigeria

This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of typhoid fever between genders among patients in Abia State Teaching Hospital.Typhoid fever which is caused by Salmonella typhi an endemic disease in the tropic and sub-tropic regions and has become a major public health problem in developing countries of the world with an estimated annual incidence of 560 per 100,000.The annual incidence of typhoid is estimated to be about 18 million cases worldwide.It is mostly seen in tropical countries including Nigeria where they lead to serious morbidities and mortalities.Blood samples were collected from 600 healthy people; 36j0 (60%) females and 240 (40%) males.The samples were examined for the presence and levels of Salmonella typhi antibodies using Widal agglutination technique.The standard Salmonella 'O' and 'H' suspension (ANTEC diagnostic products) were used as antigens.Out Of the 600 sera tested, agglutinins to Salmonella typhi were most prevalent in female subjects accounting for[300(88.2%)] of the 'H' antigens and [230(96.1%)] of 'O' antigens at the various dilutions while in the male subjects, [250(92.4%)]accounts for the 'O' and [220(84.6%)]for the 'H' antigens.The results of this study showed that more males had Salmonella agglutinin titres for S. typhi O [250(96.1%)] and S. typhi H [220(84.6%)].More so, 100 (38.5%) males had Salmonella agglutinin titres for S.paratyphiA-O, 90 (34.6%) for S. paratyphi B-O, 85 (32.7%) for S. paratyphi C-O, 87 (32.6%) for S. paratyphi A-H, 89 (34.2%) for S. paratyphi B-H, and 60 (23.1%) for S. paratyphi C-H.It also showed that more females had Salmonella agglutin in titres for S. typhi H [300 (88.2%)] followed by S. typhi O [223(65.6%)], S. paratyphi B-H [116 (34.1%)], S. paratyphi B-O [128(37.6%)], S. paratyphi B-O [120(35.3%)], S. paratyphi C-O [122(35.9%)], S. paratyphi A-H [118 (34.7%)], and S. paratyphi C-H [113 (33.2%)].The findings of this study establish Salmonella typhi titres that are not diagnostically significant but normal in the study population and the titre that could be used as presumptively diagnostic of typhoid fever.