Abstract

CARDONA E, Marta Noelia et al. PCR leptospirosis diagnosis in patients with ictohaemorrhagic fever syndrome. Rev. Soc. Ven. Microbiol. [online]. 2008, vol.28, n.1, pp.24-30. ISSN 1315-2556.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of PCR for the diagnosis of human leptospirosis using two pairs of specific pathogenic Leptospira initiators. Urine and serum samples from 73 patients with ictohaemorrhagic fever syndrome (IHFS) epidemiologically compatible for leptospirosis were examined by the MAT serologic test and by PCR. Ten (55.5%) samples from patients with MAT confirmed leptospirosis were also PCR positive. Sera from 28%  of patients classified as non serologically confirmed cases were PCR positive, which shows the importance of PCR for the early diagnosis of human leptospirosis. A comparison of the PCR results in urine and serum samples determined the greater sensibility of this technique in urine samples. The usefulness of urine samples for the early diagnosis of leptospirosis was demonstrated by considering the different leptospirosis phases in the analysis of the PCR results. It is concluded that PCR is a sensitive and specific method which, applied to clinical samples and as complement to serological tests, if useful to detect leptospirosis cases, especially in patients with severe symptoms, when it is necessary to reach a differential diagnosis.

Keywords : Diagnosis; leptospirosis; PCR.