Leptospira Antibody IgM Test

Leptospira interrogans is a group of bacteria causing leptospirosis. Leptospirosis is also called yellow fever and its spread is via contaminated urine of infected organisms. The disease is characterized by high fever, headache, chills and organ malfunctioning in severe cases. The bacterium which causes this disease in humans can live in the soil for years. The disease is very common in the tropical and subtropical countries. Mostly, farmers and workers in agricultural and poultry farms are more vulnerable to this infection because they are in close association with the animals with the contaminated excretory material.

The incubation period of these organisms is from 2-30 days. These organisms can easily multiply using the host machinery. IgM antibodies are formed in response to this infection from 6th day and remain detectable up till several months. So these serve as good source of testing the level of infection.

Leptospirosis can be a deadly disorder in case of delay in detection therefore early detection can help in preventing severe consequences[ like organ damage, muscle pain and severe joint pain] of this disease.

There are several ways to detect level of antibodies formed in human body in response to the leptospira infection. ELISA [ Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay ][ based on testing acute and covalescent] MAT test On the basis of above test the IgM antibodies were detected and conclusion was made taking the reference IgM value in interpretation of results. POSITIVE: This condition signifies late stage of infection when enough number of IgM antibodies has been already formed in response to the infecting organisms.

MARGIN: This signifies middle stage of infection when we can say that infection is prominent but not severe.

NEGATIVE: When no antibodies are detectable in the blood sample but symptoms indicate infection, in such a case two conditions are possible. One, there is no infection or there is some other type of infection which cannot be detected by this test. Secondly, the stage of infection is very early and therefore test is incompatible to test any IgM antibodies.