Journal of AdvancedMedical and Dental Sciences Research

Background: Majority of subjects reporting to the primary Healthcare suffer from self-limiting infectious diseases. Few of the infections amongst them progress to the development of serious infections that need an antibiotic coverage or hospital admission.The common test for diagnosis isestimation of Salmonella typhi in blood cultures but they are time-consuming, affected by antibiotic treatment and can provide clueless results for various days. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of CRP amongst enteric fever subjects. Materials and Methods: The patients were divided into three categories. In group I, patients with positive blood culture for S. typhi were included, in group II subjects with negative blood culture for S. typhi but showing clinical features of enteric fever were included. Group III included patients with symptoms of infection but not necessarily enteric fever. Blood samples were obtained from the subjects and freshly separated serum was used for the estimation of the level of C-reactive protein. All the data thus obtained was arranged in a tabulated form and analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The mean age of group I subjects was 18.3+/- 2.3 years, group II subjects had mean age of 19.1+/- 1.6 and mean age of group III subjects was 16.9+/- 2.7 years. There was a significant difference between the groups. The mean duration of fever was 4.5-13.2 days in group I, 6.2-15.5 days in group II and 2.5-9.7 days. Conclusion: From the present study, we can conclude that CRP is elevated amongst subjects with bacterial infection and it can be used to differentiate subjects with bacterial and viral infections. Key Words: Enteric, Salmonella, serological, widal.