New method to diagnose typhoid

A team of researchers of the International Centre for Diarhhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh (ICDDRB) has come up with a new method to diagnose typhoid and paratyphoid. They said that the method is effective in detecting the disease both in infants under five years an in adults. This makes it possible to begin treatment early.

Typhoid/paratyphoid is a serious illness, This disease normally spreads through drinking water. The bacteria Salmonella Eneterica serotype typhi (s typhi) causes the disease. Without proper treatment, a patient can carry the typhoid germ for a long time. This can lead to serious health problems, such as perforation of the intestines or brain damage. The carrier of the typhoid germ may also pass this on to others.

Dr Firdausi Qadri, director of ICDDRB’s Centre for Vaccine Science, told Prothom Alo, the bacteria bring about a change to the blood cells. Under the new method, if a blood sample undergoes a certain process for 24 to 48 hours, this change can be noted and typhoid detected. By the reaction caused by the effect of the germ in the blood sample, the disease can be diagnosed. Under this new method, the disease can be detected from even a small sample of blood, just one millilitre. The method costs the same as the prevailing test methods, but some change in equipment will be required.

Dr Qadri said, in the prevailing method of blood culture, 30 to 70% typhoid can be detected. That means the disease remains undetected in the case of many persons. The doctors also can’t diagnose the disease then and the treatment is speculative. But the new method is immunology based in which the antibodies created by the attack of the germs in the blood cells are identified, leading to successful detection of the disease. This system is presently being used in ICDDRB’s clinical service unit.

ICDDRB researchers said, the disease could not be diagnosed properly in Bangladesh due to the lack of effective testing methods to accurately identify the germ. As a result, antibiotics would often be wrongly prescribed. As a result, the antibiotics become less effective and the bacteria becomes more drug resistant.

The researchers said, under the prevailing method of blood culture, the detection of the specific bacteria in the patient’s blood leads to the diagnosis of typhoid.

A research report on the new method of dtecting typhoid and paratyphoid appeared in the US-baded PLOS Negected Tropical Diseases journal in April.

Professor ABM Abdullah, dean of the medicine faculty at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, told Prothom Alo, the testing method to detect typhoid is new so is application on a wide scale is necessary. Its effectiveness will be proven in time. The method requires more research. The conventional method of detecting the typhoid germ doesn’t yield 100% results. If the new method is successful on a wide scale, then this certainly can be considered an important breakthrough.