Question

Choose the correct statement for Widal test.

• A. Clumping indicates the absence of antibody in serum
• B. Clumping indicates the presence of typhoid specific antibodies in serum
• C. No clumping indicates presence of typhoid
• D. Clumping indicates absence of any typhoid antigen on the Widal card
  

Answer 1

The correct option is B Clumping indicates the presence of typhoid specific antibodies in serum

Widal test is a rapid diagnostic test that helps in presumptive diagnosis of typhoid fever or enteric fever, which has widely been used from a very long time as the serologic diagnosis of typhoid.
Widal test procedure involves the serum agglutination test to detect typhoid fever, Serum from a patient suffering from enteric fever containing antibodies is collected and spread over a diagnostic slide having antigenic strain. If the serum has the antibodies then it will react with the respective antigen in the slide and agglutination and clumping will happen. This clumping of antigen-antibodies indicates the presence of typhoid fever.