Abstract: | Mice experimentally infected with a pathogenic strain of
Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola produced false
negative results (prozone effect) in a microscopic agglutination test (MAT).
This prozone effect occurred in several serum samples collected at different
post-infection times, but it was more prominent in samples collected from
seven-42 days post-infection and for 1:50 and 1:100 sample dilutions. This
phenomenon was correlated with increased antibody titres in the early
post-infection phase. While prozone effects are often observed in serological
agglutination assays for the diagnosis of animal brucellosis and human syphilis,
they are not widely reported in leptospirosis MATs. |