Comparative study between the Widal/Felix test and stool culture in the diagnosis of salmonellosis: Case of the urban commune of dalaba (Republic of Guinea)

Introduction: In human pathology, salmonellosis includes two main types of illness: gastroenteritis and typhoid and paratyphoid fever. Objective: Contribute to improving the health care of patients suffering from typhoid fever. Methods: This is a comparative, prospective and descriptive study of a cross-sectional type which was carried out over a period of three months, going from April 2 to July 2, 2023. Results: From 230 patients received at the laboratory, samples of 5 patients revealed positive antigen reactions (TO+/TH+), i.e. a prevalence of 2.17%, 9 samples reacted only to the TO antigen (TO+/TH-), i.e. 3.91% and 30 patients reacted to the antigen TH (TO-/TH+), i.e. 13.04%. On the other hand, the majority of blood serum samples did not react to any of the antigens (TO-/TH-), i.e. 80.87%. Diagnosis by the Widal/Félix method is the most sensitive with 14 positive cases, or 6% compared to stool culture with 4 positive cases, or 1.74%. Of the 14 positive stool and blood samples (blood culture and stool culture), Salmonella showed sensitivity to Amoxicillin with 50% and resistance with 50%, followed by Ciprofloxacin with 29% sensitivity, 7% sensitivity intermediate, 50% resistance and 14% sensitivity not determined. Erythromycin and Kanamycin reacted with 21% sensitivity, 56 and 50% resistance respectively. Ceftriaxone recorded the lowest sensitivity with 14%. The female gender was the most represented with 64.28% compared to 35.71% for the male gender. Students are the most represented with 28.57%, followed by Drivers and Workers with 21.43% each and Housewives with 14.28%. Butchers and Masons are the least represented with 7.14% each. Singles are the most represented with a prevalence of 57% compared to 42.86% among Marrieds. Patients whose age groups are between 11-20 years and 31-40 years are the most affected by typhoid fever with 28.57% each followed by those aged 41-50 years and 51-60 years with respectively 14 .28% and 7.14%. Patients from the urban commune are the most represented with 64% and those from the sub-prefectures of Dalaba represent only 36%. Conclusion: This study showed that typhoid fever remains a major public health problem in the Republic of Guinea and the most reliable diagnosis is culture.