Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Clinical Microbiology, March 2000, p. 1272-1275, Vol. 38, No. 3
Department of Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical
Institute, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands1;
Department of Medicine, Victoria Hospital, Victoria,
Seychelles2; and Epidemiology Branch,
Department of Health, State of Hawaii, Honolulu,
Hawaii3
Received 22 September 1999/Returned for modification 6 November
1999/Accepted 27 November 1999
A newly developed latex agglutination assay for the detection of
genus-specific Leptospira antibodies in human sera was
evaluated. The assay is performed by mixing, on an agglutination card,
serum with equal volumes of stabilized antigen-coated, dyed test and control latex beads and is read within 2 min. The latex agglutination test was evaluated with groups of serum samples from patients with
leptospirosis and control patients from Hawaii, the Seychelles, Thailand, and The Netherlands. The mean overall sensitivity was 82.3%,
and the mean overall specificity was 94.6%. The assay is easy to
perform and does not require special skills or equipment. The reagents
have a long shelf life, even at tropical temperatures. Together, these
factors make the assay suitable for use even at the peripheral level of
a health care system as a rapid screening test for leptospirosis.
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Simple Latex Agglutination Assay for Rapid
Serodiagnosis of Human Leptospirosis
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of
Biomedical Research, Royal Tropical Institute, Meibergdreef 39, 1105 AZ
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Phone: 031 (0)20 5665470. Fax: 031 (0)20
6971841. E-mail: H.Smits{at}kit.nl.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. | Clin. Microbiol. Rev. |
|---|---|
| Clin. Vaccine Immunol. | ALL ASM JOURNALS |
|---|