Original Research Article
Year: 2017 | Month: May | Volume: 7 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 66-70
Baseline Weil Felix Titre among Healthy Population in Sub Himalayan Region of Kangra (H.P.) India
Seema Rani1, Kamlesh Thakur2, Anuradha Sood3, Vivek Chauhan4, Subhash Chand Jaryal3, Abhilash Sood5
1Senior Resident, Microbiology, 2Professor & Head, Microbiology, 3Associate Professor, Microbiology, 4Assistant Professor, 5Assistant Professor, Community Medicine,
Dr. R.P. Government Medical College Tanda (Himachal Pradesh)
Corresponding Author: Abhilash Sood
ABSTRACT
Context: Rickettsial infections pose a serious threat to public health if not diagnosed properly. They remain under diagnosed due to lack of diagnostic facilities in developing world. Serology remains the mainstay of diagnosis and Weil Felix test has been widely used for presumptive diagnosis of rickettssial diseases. The interpretation of Weil Felix test depends upon baseline titre which is prevalent among the healthy population.
Aims: To determine the baseline titre of Weil Felix Test in healthy population of District Kangra and to define the significant titre for Weil Felix agglutination test for diagnosis of scrub typhus.
Settings and Design: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among healthy blood donors over a period of one year. Weil Felix test was performed on the sera obtained from the blood samples collected from the donors. Baseline titre for the Weil Felix test was thus determined.
Results: A total of 1122 blood samples were collected. Baseline titre for the OX2 antigen was ascertained to be 40 and a presumptive diagnostic titre was 80. For the OX19 and OXK antigens, the baseline titre was 80 and a presumptive diagnostic titre was 160.
Conclusions: Our findings show that the results of the Weil Felix test can be interpreted in the Sub Himalayan region with the baseline titre estimated among healthy population.
Key words: Baseline titre, Rickettsial infections, Sub Himalayan Region, Weil Felix test.