Prevalence of typhoid in the rural community of Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) India

Abstract

Typhoid fever in rural areas of India is the commonest problem which is associated with poor hygiene, unavailability of treated water and poor sanitation. Typhoid is not a problem of the single country; it is a global health problem. The severity of disease increase due to an increase of drug resistance in Salmonella spp., delay in diagnosis and administration of the appropriate antibiotic. The present study was carried out to study the prevalence of typhoid in Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh. The serum samples of the patient who had complain of high fever, abdominal pain, and disturbed gastrointestinal tract were investigated for Salmonella infection by Widal test in which O and H antigen were reacted with serum. The result shows that out of the 858 samples received for the typhoid detection 746 (86.9%) samples were found positive for typhoid antigen and 112 (13%) samples are nonreactive for Salmonella antigen O and H antigen. The study also focused on gender distribution of typhoid, it was found that 423 (57%) females out of 746 positive cases are positive for Salmonella as compared to the male which was only 323 (43%) out of 746 positive cases. Most susceptible age group was 21-30 year followed by 31-40 year. The positive blood samples are also subjected to isolation of Salmonella after drawing serum from the test tube. The clot was ruptured by sterile inoculating needle and then enrichment broth 10 ml was added and incubated at 37oC for 24-48 hour. After showing turbidity one loopful of inoculums is plated on Selective media such as Hecktoen Enteric Agar, MacConkey Agar, XLD (Xylose Lysine Decarboxylase), DCA (Deoxycholate Citrate Agar). On the basis of culture characteristic and biochemical reaction, 194 Salmonella spp. was isolated from 746 positive samples.