A simple and rapid diagnostic test for typhoid fever.

Barber protein sensitized latex particles were used in the latex agglutination test for the diagnosis of typhoid fever and the result compared with that of Widal 'O' and 'H' agglutination test. The latex agglutination test was positive in all 20 bacteriologically proved typhoid patients, in 81 of 85 (95.3%) typhoid suspected patients, and only in 2 of 85 (2.3%) blood donors. In contrast, the positive rates were 60% for both 'O' and 'H' Widal agglutinations in bacteriologically proved typhoid patients, 34.2% and 71.7% respectively in typhoid suspected patients, and none of blood donors were positive. The sensitivity and specificity of the latex agglutination test were 100% and 97.6% respectively with positive and negative predictive values of 90.9% and 100% respectively. The latex agglutination test may be particularly useful for the presumptive diagnosis of typhoid fever in remote health centres.