Medknow Publications on behalf of Indian Association of Medical Microbiology
Abstract
Purpose: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the major source
of increased serum enzyme level in typhoid fever and to determine the
most relevant clinical entity, hepatitis or myopathy, during typhoid
fever. Methods: A total of 118 subjects proved to have typhoid fever
were evaluated for serum enzymes such as transaminases, alkaline
phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatinine kinase (CK);
and their relation with each other, clinical symptoms and serum
bilirubin were evaluated by regression methods. Results: Hepatomegaly
was revealed in 14% of the cases and was correlated with elevated serum
biliribin (5.05 ± 13.03 mg/dL in hepatomegalic subjects). Alanine
aminotransferase (ALT) and CK were elevated in 22 and 60% of the cases,
respectively. Correlation coefficient of CK with aspartate
aminotransferase (AST) and LDH was R 2 = 0.68 and 0.75, respectively,
which were higher than that of ALT with that two enzymes. Conclusions:
In conclusion, elevation of serum enzymes in typhoid is mostly of
muscular origin