Performance of TUBEX® TF in the diagnosis of enteric fever in private tertiary care Hospital Peshawar, Pakistan

To evaluate the performance of TUBEX® TF in diagnosing enteric fever. The retrospective study was performed at the Northwest General Hospital and Research Centre, Peshawar, Pakistan, and comprised data of all patients who had blood cultures and TUBEX®TF performed as part of their evaluation from April 2011 to November 2015. SPSS 16 was used for data analysis. Of the 970 patients, salmonella typhi was isolated in 43(4.43%), paratyphi in 9(0.93%) and other organisms in 162(16.7%). TUBEX® TF was positive in 18(1.86%) cases and negative in 25(2.58%). Of the culture-negative patients, TUBEX® TF was positive in 35(3.6%) and negative in 136(14%). In cases where no organism was cultured, TUBEX® TF was positive in 4(0.4%) and negative in 752(77.5%). The positive predictive value of TUBEX® TF was 31.58% and the negative predictive value was 97.26%. The sensitivity of TUBEX® TF was 41.86% while specificity was 95.97%. TUBEX® TF with its low sensitivity and positive predictive value was a poor tool for diagnosing enteric fever.