Short report: The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) is an unreliable predictor of infecting Leptospira serovar in Thailand

Abstract

A prospective study in Thailand identified 106 patients with culture-proven leptospirosis. The accuracy of the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) in predicting the infecting serovar was evaluated in 78/106 (74%) patients with a diagnostic titer. MAT correctly determined the infecting serovar in 26 cases (33%), indicating that this assay is a poor predictor of infecting serovar in our setting. Copyright © 2009 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.