Valutazione di nuove metodiche immunologhe per la ricerca degli anticorpi anti-Leptospire

Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) and Thin Layer Immunoassy (TIA) were applied on sera from patients with leptospirosis caused by leptospires from different serogroups and on sera from a control group. The microscopic agglutination test (MA) served as reference. ELISA, CIEP and TIA using an antigen prepared from a single leptospira strain (Wijinberg) agreed with the MA test in 100%, 76% and 80% of the sera from 21 leptospirosis patients, respectively. One false positive TIA reaction was found in 145 controls. ELISA, CIEP and TIA, which are very simple and reproducible and requiring no specific training, can be employed easily as a routine tests in diagnostic procedures