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Validation of the BfR in-house ELISA for the detection of Leptospira infection originating from foreign countries
Project
Project code: BfR-BIOS-08-1322
Contract period: 01.03.2013
- 01.12.2013
Purpose of research: Applied research
The direct detection of leptospires is laborious and time consuming. Therefore, infection in man and animal is diagnosed by detection of specific antibodies with serological methods. Currently the micro agglutination test (MAT) is the standard method for the diagnosis of leptospirosis. However, the test is time consuming and only achieves a low sensitivity. An ELISA for the detection of IgG specific antibodies was developed at the Consiliary Laboratory for Leptospirosis. The single most relevant risk factor associated with leptospirosis in humans in Germany is travelling to foreign countries. To improve the test we propose to validate the in-house ELISA with sera of leptospirosis patients from Sri Lanka in collaboration with Dr.Suneth Agampodi, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
96 sera from patients with suspected leptospirosis were analyzed with the MAT, in-house ELISA and a commercially available ELISA. Using the MAT as gold standard, the sensitivity of the in-house test was 77% for the IgG ELISA and 65% for the IgM ELISA. This can most probably be attributed to a decreased recognition of serovars which do not occur frequently in Germany. The commercially available ELISA showed a sensitivity of 33% and is not suitable. To increase the sensitivity for samples from foreign countries, further relevant antigens could be added to the current in-house protocol.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal health