Sadaf Chiragh, Sadeeq Ur Rehman.
Blood and bone marrow culture sensitivity in clinically suspected enteric fever.
J Postgrad Med Inst Jan ;19(3):313-6.

Objective: To compare blood culture sensitivity against the gold standard bone marrow cultures in clinically suspected enteric fever. Material and Methods: This prospective study was conducted at Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar from January 2000 to October 2000. Patients with clinical suspicion of enteric fever were included in study. After detailed history, clinical examination and preliminary investigations, blood and bone marrow cultures of the patients were sent to the pathology department of Khyber Medical College Peshawar. Data obtained was analyzed on SPSS. Results: Out of 50 patients with strong clinical suspicion of enteric fever 37 were males and 13 female patients. Out of 50 cases, bone marrow culture was positive in 26 cases (52%) and blood culture was positive in 20 (40%) cases. The sensitivity and specificity of blood culture was 76.9 % and 100 respectively. Conclusion: Blood culture is very specific and is sensitive enough to be used as diagnostic test for enteric fever. Every clinically suspected enteric fever is not enteric fever in true sense and we should look for alternative causes of fever if blood culture is negative.

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