Fever Package (includes Malaria & Typhoid Tests) near me in Patna

The malarial parasite can be identified by examining a blood smear slide under the microscope. 

A drop of blood is spread on a slide which is called smear. It is then stained with Giemsa stain which helps by giving the malaria parasite a distinctive appearance.

The diagnosis is made by spotting out the parasite of malaria or its antigens or its products in the smear. Thick smears help to detect the presence of parasite while thin smears help to detect the type of species of parasite. Thin smears help in evaluating the presence of schizonts (stage of malarial parasite with presence of many small nuclei), gametocytes (stage of malarial parasite where it can produce more gametes), and the presence of any pigmentation due to the malarial parasite in the blood. This test is done to detect the presence of the malarial parasite in the blood. It is also used to monitor the progress of treatment with malaria. Once the treatment of malaria is started, the doctor may advise a re-test to monitor the treatment. 

The Widal test measures the titres of antibody against the bacteria which cause Enteric fever.

Typhoid and paratyphoid fever are generally acquired when you consume food or water, contaminated by feces of an acutely infected or convalescent person (recovering from disease) or a chronic, asymptomatic carrier. The incubation period (the time interval between exposure to an infection and the appearance of the first symptoms) of Enteric fever is 6-30 days. Paratyphoid fever is similar but often less severe than typhoid fever.

Widal test is an agglutination test to detect antibodies (agglutinins) in a blood sample against two antigens (O & H) of bacteria, Salmonella enterica. Agglutination refers to the visible clumping of particles when a particulate antigen combines with its antibody in the presence of optimum conditions for antigen-antibody reaction. When this test is performed on a slide, it is called Slide agglutination and when it is carried out in a test tube,  it is called Tube agglutination. Widal test by Tube agglutination is recommended over Slide agglutination method. The antigens used in the test are “H” and “O” antigens of Salmonella Typhi and “H” antigen of S. Paratyphi.

Widal test should only be performed after the first week. The reason being the antibody against “O” and “H” antigens of Salmonella start appearing in serum at the end of the first week of fever. It is preferable to test two blood samples at an interval of 7 to 10 days to demonstrate rising antibody titres.