Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Wi·dal reaction Variant:
also Wi·dal's reaction /vE-'däl(z)-/ Function:
noun : a specific reactionconsisting in agglutination of typhoid bacilli or other salmonellas when mixed with serum from a patient having typhoid fever or other salmonella infection and constituting a test for the disease
Wiádal /vE-däl,/ Georges–Fernand–Isidore (1862–1929), French physician and bacteriologist. Widal held a professorship of pathology andinternal medicine at the University of Paris. In 1896 he developed the Widal reaction, a procedure for diagnosing typhoid fever based on the fact that antibodies in the blood of an infected individualcause the bacteria to bind together into clumps. In 1906 he recognized that the retention of sodium chloride was a feature found in cases of nephritis and cardiac edema, and he recommended saltdeprivation as part of the treatment for both diseases.
