Abstract

Typhoid fever (TF) is an infectious disease caused by Salmonella typhi (S. typhi), transmitted via contaminated water and food sources. Early treatment of TF involves a broad-spectrum antibiotic which contributes to antibiotic resistant strains of S. typhi. Therefore, it is necessary to identify accurate diagnostic biomarkers of TF to combat antibiotic resistance. Quantitative real time PCR was used to investigate gene expression of Absent in Melanoma 2 (AIM2), an inflammatory gene that responses to infectious microbes which trigger an innate immune response. AIM2 was compared between healthy controls (HC), acute stage TF patients, and other bacteremia patients. AIM2 was significantly up-regulated in TF patients compared to HC (p-value=0.0002) while there was no significant difference between TF and other bacteremia patients. In summary, AIM2 can serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker to differentiate acute stage TF from HC. Further work is warranted to identify biomarker candidates to differentiate TF and other bacteremia.