Comparison of Serological Tests in the Diagnosis of Leptospirosis in a Tertiary Care Hospital at Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India

Leptospirosis a zoonotic disease of the tropics is under reported mainly due to its protean clinical manifestation and ambiguity of several serological tests available. The current study was designed to find out the incidence of leptospirosis in and around Chidambaram and to compare the three different serological tests used in the diagnosis of leptospirosis.

A total 1356 individuals were enrolled for this study. They weredivided into 2 categories based on the clinical manifestation i.e., Category A included group I icteric patients (n= 112), Group II non-icteric patients (n=156) and Category B includes Patients with other clinical manifestations (n=988) and 100 health controls were also enrolled for this study. Serum samples were collected from all the patients enrolled for this study and analyzed using three serological tests MAT, MSAT and DOT assay.

A total of 196 cases were positive either by MAT/MSAT/DOT Assay. In icteric cases MAT showed highest positivity with 53.57%, followed by MSAT with 49.10% and DOT Assay 47.32%. In non-icteric cases MSAT showed the highest positivity with 96.15% followed by MAT with 80.76% and DOT Assay with 62.82%. Among the Category B positivity by MAT was the highest with 0.56% lowest shared with MSAT and DOT Assay with 0. 40%. In controls of 100 healthy individuals 3 were positive by MAT and DOT Assay whereas only 2 were positive by MSAT.

Our study concludes that MSAT and Dot assay can be performed for the diagnosis of Leptospirosis and can useful to the clinician especially in resource limited settings. The incidence of Leptospirosis in our setting was found to higher hence there is need for implementation of quicker diagnostic methods for leptospirosis.