title: Comparison of an in-house latex agglutination test with IgM ELISA and MAT in the diagnosis of leptospirosis.
abstract: The laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis is fraught with several problems. Isolation of Leptospira by culture has a low sensitivity and the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) is time consuming To overcome these problems, a rapid latex agglutination test (LAT) has been standardized for the detection of antileptospiral antibodies in serum samples from suspected cases of leptospirosis. We compared the efficiency of the LAT to a commercially available IgM ELISA and MAT. A total of 150 serum samples were tested by LAT, IgM ELISA, and MAT. The positivity was 26.7%, 26% and 24% respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of LAT as compared to MAT was 90.62 and 91.96% respectively. Even though LAT and ELISA showed similar results, its rapidity and simplicity made latex agglutination test more suitable as a rapid screening test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, JIPMER, Pondicherry, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shekatkar
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.forename: B N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Harish
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Parija
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood*; D007919:Leptospira / Q000276:immunology*; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D007075:Immunoglobulin M