The Laboratory Diagnosis of Leptospirosis

Abstract

This little manual deals with one of man's diseases transmitted from rodents and domestic animals. It is now known that many serologic types of leptospira that are not morphologically and culturally distinguishable from Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae exist as pathogens. This book was written because of a growing need to include leptospiral identification in the routine work of clinical laboratories. The book is mainly devoted to diagnostic procedures, which include dark field examination of the blood, spinal fluid, and urine; cultural procedures and mediums; animal inoculation; and serologic procedures (the agglutination-lysis test, agglutinin-absorption test, and others), with brief chapters on morphology and staining methods. This is followed by a brief discussion of the antigenic structure of leptospira and characteristics of type strains. A list of references is given in the back of the book. The index is adequate. There are a few photographs of equipment but no photomicrographs or diagrammatic sketches of