[Diagnosis and surveillance of leptospirosis in the Venetia Region]

The Microbiological Laboratory of Verona Hospital is the leptospirosis reference Centre since 1980. It uses routinely the lysis/agglutination test with leptospires strains in order to confirm the clinical diagnosis and to define the typing of strains. Although this Centre is not yet officially recognized, it is in fact, at the service of the Veneto region and greater part of the Trentino Alto Adige. It examines 600 samples a year (about 3000 determinations) from these two regions, therefore it can construct a biregional epidemiology although the data is neither referred to superior Committees nor, perhaps, utilized in the requesting territory. The aspects of this service to be improved are the incompleteness of data with samples and their not perfect condition on arrival for testing. The most interesting point is that the epidemiology in the Veneto region has not changed since 1980: the prevailing leptospira is the icterohaemorrhagiae and then the canicola and pomona.