title: Leptospirosis: current situation and trends of specific laboratory tests.
abstract: Leptospirosis is re-emerging as a worldwide zoonosis and is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. Human leptospirosis is associated with high temperature and humidity. Laboratory tests are indispensible for the early diagnosis and proper disease management. The demand for suitable leptospirosis point-of-care diagnostic tests grows with the awareness and number of incidences. Confirmation is achieved by the microscopic agglutination test, bacterial cultivation, PCR or histopathologic methods. However, high costs, poor standardization and/or elaborate sample preparation prevent routine use at the point of care. Cost-efficient, but insensitive serological methods dominate the diagnostic landscape and, likewise, urgently need improvement toward greater compliance with some of the point-of-care criteria. Combined application of antigen and antibody detection methods increases accuracy, but also new development or transfer of diagnostic technologies should be considered useful. Nano- and microparticle technology may play a key role in improving future antigen detection methods.
authors: Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Schreier
authors: Galayanee
authors: G
authors: Doungchawee
authors: Sudarat
authors: S
authors: Chadsuthi
authors: Darapond
authors: D
authors: Triampo
authors: Wannapong
authors: W
authors: Triampo
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007118:Immunoassay; D018189:Immunomagnetic Separation; D007919:Leptospira / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial