Abstract
Typhoid (enteric) fever is still a common disease in many developing countries but current diagnostic tests are inadequate. Studies on pathogenesis and genomics have provided new insight into the organisms that cause enteric fever. Better understanding of the microorganisms explains, in part, why our current typhoid methodologies are limited in their diagnostic information and why developing new strategies may be a considerable challenge. Here we discuss the current position of typhoid diagnostics, highlight the need for technological improvements and suggest potential ways of advancing this area.
Highlights
Enteric fever remains a common disease in many parts of the world where access to clean water is limited
Enteric fever is an all encompassing term for the disease caused by several serovars of Salmonella enterica including (S.) Typhi and (S.)Paratyphi A
Concluding remarks The ultimate question is which direction do we follow in terms of developing typhoid diagnostics and how can these be applied to location with limited resources? In the short term, it appears that whilst current techniques are limited there is no real alternative without extensive research and culturing remains the inadequate gold standard
Summary
Enteric (typhoid) fever remains a common disease in many parts of the world where access to clean water is limited. A fecal-oral infection leading to systemic disease (Figure 2). An additional caveat for an effective and appropriate diagnostic test is the cross section of organisms that can cause a disease syndrome that is, clinically, indistinguishable from typhoid fever. Access to receiving a blood culture becomes, the limiting factor to typhoid diagnosis.
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