| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2007 | Volume
: 25
| Issue : 1 | Page : 24-27 |
Serological evaluation of leptospirosis in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh: A retrospective hospital-based study
S Velineni1, S Asuthkar1, P Umabala2, V Lakshmi2, M Sritharan1
1 Department of Animal Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad - 500 046, India
2 Department of Microbiology, Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad - 500 082, Andhra Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
M Sritharan
Department of Animal Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad - 500 046
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0255-0857.31057
Purpose : Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease with humans getting the infection either from rodent hosts or from domestic animals. Urine contaminated environment is the common source of infection. This is an under-reported disease in Andhra Pradesh. We report a retrospective hospital-based study on 55 patients with suspected leptospirosis. Methods : A total of 55 serum samples were collected from patients with suspected leptospirosis and subjected to serological testing by LeptoTek Dri-dot, microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and IgM enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Identification of the predominant infecting serotype was done using a panel of 12 serovars. Results: MAT analysis of all the 55 samples identified all cases to be positive. The predominant serogroup was Icterohaemorrhagiae (68%) followed by Australis (22%), Autumnalis (8%) and Javanica (2%). LeptoTek Dri-dot showed a sensitivity of 96% as compared to MAT. IgM ELISA done on 32 samples showed a sensitivity of 86.7% compared to MAT. Conclusions : MAT helped to identify Icterohemorrhagiae as the predominant serovar in this study. Despite the small number of samples analyzed, the data obtained establishes a need for a prospective study in this region.
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