Se Asian J Trop Med
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Se Asian J Trop Med · Sep 2000
Introduction of a rapid dipstick assay for the detection of Leptospira-specific immunoglobulin m antibodies in the laboratory diagnosis of leptospirosis in a hospital in Makassar, Indonesia.
An easy, rapid and robust dipstick assay for detection of leptospira-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies was evaluated on 403 patients admitted for hospitalization because of fever. The clinical symptoms and signs of 35 patients were consistent with leptospirosis. The final diagnosis for the remaining patients was as follows: 136 with typhoid fever, 82 with hepatitis, 74 with malaria, 48 with infections of the respiratory tract, and 20 with fever of unknown origin. ⋯ Compared with the results of MAT and IgM ELISA a sensitivity of 91.6% and specificity of 93.6% was calculated for the dipstick assay. Most of the serum samples from the laboratory confirmed patients gave a moderate to strong staining intensity of the antigen band of the dipstick and were easy to read. The results demonstrate that the dipstick assay is convenient to use and allows the rapid and accurate confirmation of patients with clinical suspicion of leptospirosis in areas where the disease is endemic.