Ammah A, Nkuo-Akenji T, Ndip R, Deas J E
Department of Life Sciences, University of Buea, S. W. Province, Republic of Cameroon.
Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1999 Mar-Apr;93(2):127-9. doi: 10.1016/s0035-9203(99)90282-1.
Malaria and typhoid fever are endemic diseases in Cameroon, with overlapping signs and symptoms. While the high prevalence of malaria is an established fact, it is only within the past 5 years that an unusually high number of illnesses have been diagnosed as malaria co-existing with typhoid fever. The Widal test is widely used as the sole laboratory test for the diagnosis of typhoid fever. To investigate the extent of the malaria and typhoid fever association, we used blood and stool cultures as additional diagnostic tests for typhoid fever. We report that, of 200 patients presenting with fever, 17.0% had concurrent malaria and typhoid fever (Salmonella typhi) based on bacteriological proven diagnosis as compared with 47.9% based on the Widal test. A higher proportion of patients (32.5%) had malaria coexisting with S. typhimurium when compared to S. paratyphi (2%) and S. typhi (P < 0.05). We conclude that the number of fever cases diagnosed as malaria co-existing with typhoid fever is overestimated.
疟疾和伤寒热是喀麦隆的地方病，症状有重叠。虽然疟疾的高流行率是既定事实，但就在过去5年里，有异常多的疾病被诊断为疟疾与伤寒热并存。维达试验被广泛用作诊断伤寒热的唯一实验室检测方法。为了调查疟疾与伤寒热的关联程度，我们使用血培养和粪便培养作为伤寒热的额外诊断检测方法。我们报告称，在200名发热患者中，根据细菌学确诊，17.0%的患者同时患有疟疾和伤寒热（伤寒杆菌），而根据维达试验这一比例为47.9%。与副伤寒杆菌（2%）和伤寒杆菌相比，更多比例的患者（32.5%）的疟疾与鼠伤寒沙门氏菌并存（P < 0.05）。我们得出结论，被诊断为疟疾与伤寒热并存的发热病例数量被高估了。
