[Serologic survey on human leptospirosis in Argentina].

Abstract

This paper presents the results obtained with the sera of persons having direct or indirect contact with ethiological agents of leptospirosis. Exposure could have ocurred during the performance of their duties, by contact with contaminated habitats and/or animals. One thousand thirty eight sera from persons living in different regions of Argentina were received at the laboratory and studied by the microscopic agglutination tecnique. Of these, 164 were positive (15.7%) to serveral serotypes. One hundred thirty eight sera of the 857 males studied (16.1%) were positive, and 16 out of 173 female sera (15%) were positive. Males between 31 and 40 years of age had the highest proportion of positives (21.7%); however, among females the group between 21 and 30 years of age had the highest rate (14.2%). Most of the sera reacted to L. brastislava (15%), followed by L. icterohaemorrhagiae (17.7%) and L. butembo (14%), with nine other serotypes at lower rates.