Leptospirosis is considered the most widespread zoonosis worldwide, caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. Bacterial transmission to humans usually through contact with an environment contaminated with leptospira, which actively penetrate the skin and mucous membranes. In most patients with leptospirosis, the infection is mild and manifests as an uncharacteristic febrile condition, limited without treatment. About 10 % of patients develop a more severe form of the disease called Weil's syndrome, which is a combination of jaundice and renal failure. The most commonly used diagnostic approach to detect leptospirosis is serology based on the detection of specific antibodies. Two tests were used in the master's thesis, the reference MAT test which detects both IgM and IgG classes of antibodies, and the commercial ELISA test which specifically detects IgM and IgG antibodies. The aim of the study was to detect specific antibodies with both tests and to compare and asses agreement between both serological tests. In the study, we included 100 human samples from patients with suspected leptospirosis. We found, that the positive results of the MAT test were most correlated with the presence of IgM antibodies, detected by the ELISA test. In our case, the results of the two tests agreed in 83,1 %. Based on the percentage of agreement between the results of the two tests, we concluded that the ELISA test is a good alternative for routine diagnosis, especially for detection of IgM antibodies and consequent detection of leptospirosis in the early stages of the disease, but the MAT test is also necessary for the subsequent confirmation of positive results.
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