Seroprevalence of Salmonella Agglutinins among Apparently Healthy Students of a Tertiary Institution in North-Eastern Nigeria

Aim: To determine the level of Salmonella agglutinin and its titre among apparently healthy students of Tertiary Institution in North-eastern Nigeria.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study on Seroprevalence of Salmonella agglutinin;

Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Biological Science Technology, Federal Polytechnic Mubi, Adamawa State, between September to December, 2016.

Methodology: This study was a cross-sectional study in which 200 apparently healthy students of Federal Polytechnic Mubi were tested for Salmonella agglutinin using both slide and tube agglutination methods.

Statistical Analysis: Non-parametric Mann-Whitney statistics and least significance difference (LSD) were used to test for significant difference in all the data obtained. Significance difference was taken when P˂0.05.

Results: The result showed that the number of male with positive Widal agglutinin was significantly higher than that of female (P=0.028). The number of positive titre was significantly higher in age group 21-25 years (P=0.002) when compared to other age brackets. However, there was no statistical difference between the age bracket 16-20 years and 31-35 years (P=0.747). The result of the agglutination titre showed that more male had Salmonella titre for Salmonella Typhi O (81.8%) and Salmonella Typhi H (72.7%) while more female had Salmonella agglutinin titre for Salmonella Typhi H (44.4%) and Salmonella Paratyphi B-H (33.3%). It was also observed that only agglutinin for Salmonella Paratyphi A-O, B-O, C-O, B-H and C-H were present in the sera of male subjects up to the titre of 160 and at frequencies ranging from 1.6-58.8%. Furthermore, among females, it was observed that only agglutinins for Salmonella Paratyphi A-O, Salmonella Typhi C-H and Salmonella Typhi O and H were present in the sera of the subjects up to the titre of 160 and at frequencies ranging from 2.5-25.0%.

Conclusion: Detecting Salmonella agglutinin titre up to 160 among apparently healthy individuals is of public health significance. Thus, there is need to monitor this trend and create awareness on environmental and behavioural risk factors for Salmonella infections.