title: Serological titres to Leptospira fainei serovar hurstbridge in human sera in Australia.
abstract: A set of 723 diagnostic sera from human patients, submitted for the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) for antibodies to a group of 6 leptospiral serovars, was also tested by MAT for antibodies to the recently-discovered Leptospira fainei serovar hurstbridge. MAT titres of > or = 128 to serovar hurstbridge were detected in 13.4% of these sera, and titres of > or = 512 in 7.2%. In contrast, none of 62 sera obtained from a control population of laboratory staff gave titres of > or = 128. The difference between the number of titres of > or = 128 given by the two groups of sera was highly significant (P < 0.01). The titres observed may have been due to cross-reactions with other leptospiral serovars, but this could not be demonstrated. An alternative explanation is that serovar hurstbridge is present in the human population.
authors.affiliation: Agriculture Victoria, Victorian Institute of Animal Science, Attwood, Australia.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Chappel
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Khalik
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Bulach
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Faine
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perolat
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vallance
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001315:Australia; D006801:Humans; D007919:Leptospira / Q000276:immunology*; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D012698:Serologic Tests
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial