LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS OF LEPTOSPIROSIS: A REVIEW
Journal Title: Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences - Year 2015, Vol 4, Issue 50
Abstract
Leptospirosis is a zoonosis of global distribution caused by infection with pathogenic spirochaetes of the genus Leptospira. Humans are accidental hosts and usually become infected through contact with water or soil contaminated by the urine of infected animals such as rodents, dogs, cattle and pigs. In developing countries such as India, leptospirosis is often underdiagnosed because of its protean clinical manifestations leading to significant morbidity and mortality. It occurs as a self-limited illness in 85% to 90% of the cases and icteric leptospirosis or Weil’s syndrome, a more serious, potentially fatal syndrome which occurs in 5% to 10% of the cases. Microbiological diagnosis of leptospirosis aims at demonstrating the leptospires, by culturing them or by demonstrating an appreciable antibody response to them. A definite diagnosis of leptospirosis is based either on isolation of the organism from the patient or on seroconversion or a rise in antibody titre in the MAT. Leptospires may be visualized in clinical material by DGM or by IF or light microscopy after appropriate staining. The sensitivity of blood cultures is low; hence culture is primarily used for retrospective diagnosis. There are numerous serological tests available for diagnosis of leptospirosis like Macroscopic agglutination test (MSAT), Indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), Sensitised erythrocyte lysis test (SEL), Complement fixation test (CFT), Enzyme Linked Sorbent Assay (ELISA), Microcapsule agglutination test (MCAT), Lepto-Dipstick, Latex agglutination test, Dried Latex agglutination test (Lepto Tek Dri-Dot), but they are only genus specific. To identify the specific serovar Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) or culture has to be done. The various available options for a diagnosis of leptospirosis have been explored in this article. A thorough literary search was done in the various published data available- pub med search was done as well as published books were also surveyed on the same topic.
Authors and Affiliations
Mythri B. A.
Keywords
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- EP ID EP95692
- DOI 10.14260/jemds/2015/1269
- Views 128
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