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. The clinical diagnosis of leptospirosis was confirmed for 24 (68.6%) patients by the combined results of the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), the reference test for leptospirosis, and of IgM ELISA, a standard laboratory test for the serodiagnosis of leptospirosis. In addition, serum specimens from 8 (2.2%) patients with a final clinical diagnosis other than leptospirosis were found to be positive in MAT and/or IgM ELISA. 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.

Significance of antibody coated bacteria in neurogenic bladder cases.

A total of 85 urine samples from 63 patients with neurogenic bladder, were subjected for pus cell counting and culture. Fifty nine (69.4%) samples showing significant bacterial growth were tested for the presence of antibody coated bacteria (ACB). One serum sample per patient was collected for the estimation of C-reactive protein. E. coli was the commonest bacterial isolate (45.8%) from the clinical samples followed by Ps. aeruginosa (20.3%) and K. pneumoniae (18.6%). Thirty two culture positive samples belonging to 27 patients, were found to be antibody coated. Of all the isolates, K. pneumoniae was antibody coated in higher proportion (63.7%) followed by Ps. aeruginosa (58.3%) and E. coli (55.6%). Immunoglobulin G was found in all the ACB positive samples, where as 87.5% of them were also coated with IgA class of antibodies. All patients with ACB in urine had raised serum CRP levels except one, where as all the rest of the patients had CRP level within normal limit. The presence of pus cells in urine and radiological abnormalities in the urinary tract were significantly higher in ACB positive patients than in ACB negative patients.