Interpretation of microscopic agglutination test for leptospirosis diagnosis and seroprevalence

ABSTRACT

Determination of antibody titer by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) has been used as a tool for leptospirosis diagnosis. Four fold or greater rise in antibody titers between acute and convalescent sera suggests recent Leptospira infection. In addition, results obtained by MAT have been used to predict infecting serovars. However, cross reactivity among various Leptospira serovars have been reported when patient sera were tested with a battery of Leptospira serovars. This study demonstrates cross- reactivity among several Leptospira serovars when MAT was performed on leptospirosis sera. The data support a role of MAT as a tool for diagnosis. However, for information on infecting serovars, Leptospira isolation and molecular identification should be performed.