Slide coagglutination for Salmonella typhi antigens in broths inoculated with feces from typhoid fever patients.

Salmonella typhi antigens D, Vi and d were readily detected, by slide coagglutination, in mannitol selenite (MSB) and dulcitol selenite (DSB), Salmonella enrichment broths 4 hours after inoculation with feces from 60 patients with bacteriologically confirmed typhoid fever. Positive coagglutination also occurred using MSB and DSB inoculated with fecal specimens obtained from 16 patients from whom S. typhi was not cultured. Twelve of these later seroconverted to Salmonella O antigen. None of the MSB or DSB inoculated with feces from 50 healthy control subjects, gave a positive coagglutination test. The coagglutination method appears to have potential as a rapid test for the detection of antigens of S. typhi in MSB and DSB broths inoculated with feces from patients with suspected typhoid fever.