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Rapid and reliable diagnostics for enteric fever (typhoid and paratyphoid) are urgently needed. This study, published in PLoS Medicine reports the characterization of a novel approach for diagnosing patients with enteric fever.
The TPTest detects Salmonella-specific IgA responses in lymphocyte culture supernatent. This was utilized in patients with suspected enteric fever, patients with other illnesses and healthy controls. it was found that TPTest had a sensitivity of 100% compared to blood culture and specificity of 78-97%. The authors concluded that the TPTest is useful for identification of patients iwth enteric fever in an endemic area; however, additional development of simplified TPTest is warrented.
To read the full article, click on the following link:http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002316