[Comparative study of serologic techniques for the diagnosis of human leptospirosis]

A comparative study was carried out in order to assess 3 serological techniques employed at the Provincial Centers of Hygiene and Epidemiology for diagnosing leptospirosis. The study included 49 sera from patients with leptospirosis confirmed by the techniques of passive hemoagglutination (HA), plate macroscopic agglutination with thermoresistant antigen (TR) and indirect immunofluorescence (IIF). Sensitivity was 90% for HA, 96% for TR and 84% for IIF. IIF was performed with the use of 5 different antigens and the highest serological reactivity was obtained with the strain belonging to Canicola serogroup.