Resumen

OBREGON FUENTES, Ana Margarita et al. Detection of IgM antibodies to leptospires by using a commercial ELISA-IgM system. Rev Cubana Med Trop [online]. 2013, vol.65, n.2, pp.202-210. ISSN 0375-0760.

Introduction: human leptospirosis is a communicable systemic zoonosis caused by the invasive bacteria Leptospira interrogans sensu lato complex. Numerous methods are used for serodiagnosis of this disease, including the ELISA tests. Objectives: to implement a new commercial serological ELISA test (SD Leptospira ELISA-IgM, SD Bioline, Korea) for screening of IgM antibodies and for identification of Leptospira serogroups in positive sera. Methods: twenty seven and sixty one sera, with/without IgM antibodies to leptospires, respectively, were studied. They had been taken from patients suspected of having leptospirosis. The microscopic agglutination test with live antigens (MAT) was the reference method. In addition, other commercial systems such as SD Leptospira IgM Lateral Flow and indirect hemagglutination (HAT) tests were comparatively used. Results: all the 27 sera with antibodies against Leptospira were positive according to SD Leptospira ELISA-IgM, 20 sera were found positive by SD Lateral Flow Igm test and 9 sera by the indirect HAT test. Of the 61 sera without antibodies to leptospires, 9 and 8 were positive by SD Leptospira ELISA-IgM and SD Leptospira IgM Lateral Flow test, respectively. Serogroups Canicola and Ballum were predominant in positive sera tested by the commercial system under evaluation. The agreement coefficient between SD Leptospira ELISA-IgM and MAT was 89.77 %. Conclusions: SD Leptospira ELISA-IgM showed higher positivity rate than the other systems in the studied sera; this aspect would support its possible introduction in Cuba. The great reactivity of the antigen used in the system was confirmed, which indicates that active laboratory surveillance of leptospiral serogroups should be kept nationwide.

Palabras clave : ELISA-IgM; leptospirosis; quick detection; IgM antibodies.

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