Journal of Microbiology Research 2015, 5(3): 118-121 DOI: 10.5923/j.microbiology .20150503.06 Sero Prevalence of Salmonella typhi among Pregnant Women in Niger State Adogo Liilian * , Samuel Graba, Abalaka Moses Department of Microbiology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria Abstract This study reports the prevalence of typhoid fever among pregnant women in Niger state. The study was carried out among pregnant women at the antenatal care unit of nine General Hospitals, in Niger State. Questionnaires were issued to obtain demographic information. Two milliliters of blood sample was collected from each pregnant woman and centrifuged at 1,500 rpm for 5 minutes. Widal test was used to detect the antibody titers in sera were in a titre of 1:80 was considered significant and the result of each patient was recorded. Nine hundred pregnant women were examined from the three zones of the state, out of which 610 (67.8%) were infected. Prevalence of Salmonella typhi in relation to age group shows that women between the ages of 35–44 had the highest rate of infection (71.8%). Those within the age groups of 25-34, 15-24 also had a prevalence of 68.1% and 66.7% respectively. The relationship between typhoid fever infection and age group was statistically significant (P = < 0.05). Prevalence of Salmonella typhi in relation to gestation period shows that pregnant women in their third trimester had the highest infection rate (71.5%) while those in their first and second trimester had a prevalence of 66.1%, 65.5% respectively. The relationship between typhoid fever infection and gestation period was statistically insignificant (P = > 0.05). The highest percentage (69.9%) of significant titre of antibodies to Salmonella was detected among subjects who utilize borehole water while the least was detected among subjects who utilize tap water. Well water users recorded a prevalence of 68.5%. There was a significance difference between Salmonella typhi infection and water supply (P < 0.05). Four hundred and fifty one women (50.0%) were positive to the somatic (O) antigen indicating acute infection. Typhoid fever is a dangerous infection among pregnant women and is common in Nigeria. Pregnancy makes the host more vulnerable to typhoid fever. Public awareness, early and prompts diagnosis is of great importance in curbing the menace of the diseases. Keywords Salmonella typhi, Pregnant women, Typhoid fever, Widal test 1. Introduction Typhoid fever is a global infection [1] and is responsible for acute life threatening febrile illness. Typhoid fever is one of the major bacterial infections worldwide. It has an estimated case of twenty two million with two hundred thousand interrelated deaths world-wide annually [2]. Although, typhoid fever is widespread in various regions of the world, the genuine burden of the infection is weakly defined within most endemic countries. The well-known occurrence of multidrug-resistant typhoid fever also complicates the problem [3] [4]. The disease is a major challenge and an essential health setback in some continents such as Asia and Africa particularly in Nigeria owing to poor hygienic environment and the absence of or insufficient clean water supply [5]. Typhoid fever is amongst the major prevalent disease in * Corresponding author: adogolillian@ymail.com (Adogo Liilian) Published online at http://journal.sapub.org/microbiology Copyright © 2015 Scientific & Academic Publishing. All Rights Reserved Nigeria due to various interconnected factors such as scarce amenities for handling unwanted products and abuse of antibiotics; these amongst other factors are responsible for the widespread of typhoid fever affecting both little children and young adults [6]. Infection of pregnant women with Salmonella occurs as frequently as its infection in the general populace, with a prevalence of 0.2% positive rectal cultures at the point of delivery [7]. It has been projected that the incidence of foetal loss which occurs from untreated typhoid cases all through pregnancy might be as high as 80% [7]. Special concern arises as soon as pregnancy is complicated by S. typhi [8]. Diverse severe outcomes and morbidity connected with typhoid fever in pregnancy include maternal mortality, premature labor, spontaneous abortion and infection of the fetus. Due to the hormonal changes that suppress immunity, pregnant women are at an increased risk for getting food-borne infections [9]. Hormonal changes which occur during pregnancy impair the cell mediated immune response and they increase the susceptibility of pregnant women to various infections. Pregnancy is considered as a high risk