Incidence of Typhoid Fever among Patients Diagnosed with Malaria in Gwagwalada, FCT

Abstract

Malaria, typhoid and their co-infection remain the most common febrile illnesses in Nigeria, with overlapping clinical symptoms, making diagnosing almost difficult. This study was aimed at investigating the incidence of typhoid fever among patients diagnosed with malaria infection. 100 blood samples, collected from febrile patients (63 females and 37 males) between the ages of 11–60 years were screened for malaria parasites using thick and thin blood film stains. Typhoid fever was screened using the Widal-agglutination test and re-confirmed with blood culture, followed by biochemical characterization. 62 (62%) samples were positive for malaria. Of all 62 malaria positive samples, 27 (43.5%) were positive for widal test while 35 (56.4%) were negative. Blood culture confirmed 33 (53.2%) of 62 malaria-positive samples for Salmonella spp., indicating a marked discrepancy between the two diagnostic methods. Malaria-typhoid co-infection recorded 15 (24.1%). The 21–30 years of age group recorded the highest number of malaria to typhoid cases, while age 11-20 years recorded the highest number of co-infection. Females (63%) constituted a higher proportion of the study population than males (37%). The association between the number of malaria positive cases with age and positive cases for widal and culture was not statistically significant. The findings revealed that although malaria typhoid co-infection is genuinely present in the study population, the Widal test overestimates its true prevalence due to its low specificity. It is recommended that blood culture be adopted as a confirmatory diagnostic tool to improve the accuracy of typhoid fever diagnosis among malaria patients.