Development of a dipstick test for the diagnosis of animal leptospirosis

• Grant number: 11/17602-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2011
• End date: November 30, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Patricia Antonia Estima Abreu de Aniz
• Grantee: Patricia Antonia Estima Abreu de Aniz
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Leptospirosis is an infectious bacterial disease with acute or chronic course, caused by spirochetes of the genus Leptospira, that affects humans and domestic and wild animals. It can be transmitted directly by contact with fluids (blood or urine) containing leptospires through the placenta and hematogenous routes, genital and breast feeding, or indirectly by contact with an environment contaminated with leptospires originating from the urine of infected animals, sick or convalescent.The control of leptospirosis is needed to prevent clinical disease, economic losses and to minimize the risk of human infection. The knowledge of the geographical distribution, of risk factors involved and the circulating strains is of extreme importance to the establishment of the regional epidemiology of this disease and improvement of preventive measures.The clinical diagnosis of leptospirosis is not easy, due to the variety of symptoms common in other diseases. Must be confirmed by serological tests such as microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and ELISA-IgM or isolation of leptospires from blood samples, tissue, urine or spinal fluid. The main inconvenience of these methods is a delay in the results. The PCR technique has also been used to enhance the early diagnosis of disease. However, it is high cost implemented only in special cases, as for animals of high economic value. Thus, the development of diagnostic methods more simple, rapid and efficient becomes increasingly necessary.The purpose of this work is to develop a qualitative diagnostic test based on immunochromatographic dipstick test, which is quick and easy implementation to be used in the field without special equipment. This test would not be in substitution for longer routinely used, but used as a screening for the presence or absence of disease, which could expedite the appropriate measures in cases of suspected leptospirosis. (AU)