Background and Objective: Leptospirosis is an infectious and zoonosis disease, which is caused by leptospira and is transmitted from animal to human. The rapid diagnosis can control the disease, therefore this study was carried out to determine the prevalent serovars of leptospira using micro agglutination test (MAT) in human and cattles.Method: In this descriptive study, 175 cattles and 67 suspected human serum samples were tested in five provinces in Iran during 2011-12. Serum samples tested by micro agglutination test using 20 live leptospira serogroup.Results: Ninty nine out of 175 (56.5%) cattle serum samples and 31 out of 67 (46.2%) human samples were positive against leptospira antigen. The most prevalent leptospira serovar in cattles and human were Serjoe hardjo (61.9%) and Serjoe serjoe (23%), respectively. The most frequent titer in positive samples was equal to be 1.400. Fifty percent of human positive samples belong to farmers between 20-40 years old. The common contaminations belong to polluted water (61.1%) and infected blood (28.3%), respectively.Conclusion: Using micro agglutination test, the most prevalent leptospira serovar in cattles was Serjoe hardjo and in human was Serjoe serjoe.

A simple and rapid immunoassay of morphine based on latex agglutination inhibition reaction has been developed. Morphine-6-succinat is a morphine derivative, and its BSA conjugates were synthesized and characterized. The hapten density in the conjugate was determined spectroscopically to be 8.2 mol/mol of BSA. It was found that morphine-6- succinyl-BSA exhibits favorable features in terms of immunogenicity and immunochemical specificity. A latex agglutination inhibition-reaction test (LAIRT) using DEAE-Cellulose purified rabbit IgG against morphine-6- succinyl-BSA was found to give a sensitivity of 300 mg/ml of morphine. Various commonly used drugs and narcotics at concentrations 0.1 mg/ml or less did not interfere with the test. Interference by normal urine was observed but it could be eliminated by the inclusion of 0.78% normal rabbit serum. The sensitized latex was stable at 4°C for at least 6 months .It was also stable to lyophilization and to at least four cycles of freezing and thawing. The total test time was 5 minutes. A comparison was made between the LAIRT and EMIT on 100 urine samples collected from people who referred to governmental narcotic clinic (Reference Lab. Tehran, Iran). While the EMIT showed 84 positives and 16negatives, the LAIRT gave 68 positives and 32 negatives. The two tests showed no significant difference (P<0.05).

Background: Rotavirus is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children with gastroenteritis. Since the discovery of rotaviruses, several techniques have been used for their laboratory diagnosis; those included Electron Microscopy (EM) and enzyme immunoassay. These methods, however, are expensive and not readily available everywhere. We have developed a technique which can be used for routine diagnosis of rotavirus gastroenteritis.Methods: Purified simian rotavirus, SA11, was injected into rabbits and the  g-globulin fraction of antisera was purified and used for coating of latex beads. The prepared sensitizied latex was then used for agglutination test on fecal samples. 94 stool samples from infants with acute gastroenteritis were tested by (EM), enzyme immunoassay and Latex Agglutination (LA) method.Results: The sensitivity of enzyme immune assay and (LA) were 92.5% and 90%, respectively; the specificity of both tests was 98.1% as compared with (EM). Conclusion: Latex Agglutination Test (LAT) is a simple and relatively inexpensive test which can be used for diagnosis of rotavirus gastroenteritis in diagnostic laboratories and health centers.

Background and Objective: In our country, the Wright test routinely is used for diagnosing brucellosis. Because of its low sensitivity, the range of false-negative results is high. Therefore, we aimed at comparing Wright and ELISA in the people suspected brucellosis.Material and Methods: The results of Wright, 2ME, Coombs Wright tests were compared with Anti-Brucella IgG, Anti-Brucella IgM. Of 1183 subjects referred for Wright test, 148 of them were investigated for Coombs Wright and 228 for 2ME Wright. In addition to Wright test for 32 cases, Brucella IgG and IgM classes were also experimented.Results: Wright test was negative in 95.4% of cases. Of these negative results, 2.3% were positive for Coombs Wright. Eight-point-five percent of the cases were positive for Coombs Wright test and 4.7% for 2ME Wright test. Sixteen cases were negative for both Wright and ELISA. In 8 cases of Wright-negative, ELISA IgM class was positive and IgG class was negative, and in 4 cases of Wright-negative, ELISA IgM was negative and IgG was positive. About 4 cases of Wright-positive, IgM and IgG antibody classes were positive.Conclusion: Due to the mismatch between the results of Wright agglutination test and ELISA method and with regard to availability, high sensitivity and determining the type of antibody classes in ELISA, it is focused on ELISA method for brucellosis diagnosis.

Background and Objective: Meat can be contaminated by Leptospira species. This bacterial pathogen causes severe leptospirosis disease in humans and animals. The major aims of this study were to assess seroepidemiological prevalence of leptospirosis in employees of a slaughterhouse in Guilan Province, Iran, using microscopic agglutination test and further investigate the positive samples using nested polymerase chain reaction method. Material and Methods: In this study, 150 employees of a slaughterhouse in Guilan Province, Iran, were participated after completing written consents and personal questionnaires. This sample size was calculated based on the mean prevalence of the pathogen in the region. After assessing sera of the participants for Leptospira antibody using microscopic agglutination test, urine samples were collected from the positive participant for further assessments using nested polymerase chain reaction. Results and Conclusion: Based on the results, microscopic agglutination test was positive for 10. 7% of the participants. However, Nested-PCR was negative for the positive microscopic agglutination tests on sera collected from the participants with antibodies against Leptospira antigens. The current results demonstrate that Leptospira can occur in asymptomatic humans in slaughterhouses and highlight the high potential of the disease transmission to humans in the province. Therefore, further extended control and prevention measures for slaughterhouse workers are recommended to guarantee the food safety. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background & Aims: Brucellosis is a public health problem in many developing countries, including Iran. Diagnosis is based on history, clinical manifestations and positive serum agglutination test (SAT) or Wright test. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of SAT in pediatric Brucellosis.Methods: In this prospective study, during 2 years, 52 patients with clinical features of Brucellosis were studied. Sera were obtained from all patients. Assuming that patients with active Brucellosis in our area have SAT ³1:80, all blood samples were tested by SAT and blood culture with BACTEC system.Results: Of 52 patients with clinical presentation of brucellosis, in 26 patients, the diagnosis was confirmed according to positive blood culture and/or SAT (³1:80). Brucella spp were isolated in 10 patients (38.4%). SAT was found positive in 25 samples (96.1%). Blood culture and SAT both were negative in 26 cases and the final diagnosis of this group was a disease other than brucellosis. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of the test was 90%, 62%, 36% and 96.2%, respectively.Conclusion: Wright test can be used as a reliable, convenient and cost–effective test in the diagnosis of pediatric brucellosis in our population.

Background: This study aimed to set-up latex agglutination test (LAT) and ELISA based on recombinant A2 from Iranian strain of Leishmania (L. ) infantum (rA2-Ag) and evaluated for detection of anti-Leishmania antibodies in dogs compared to standard direct agglutination test (DAT). Methods: The rA2-Ag was synthesized under a part of the A2 gene sequences which contain immune dominant sequences and less number of repetitive sequences. Latex beads, 0. 8 μ m (Sigma, USA) were sensitized with rA2-Ag. The tests were carried out on sera collected from 350 ownership dogs including symptomatic (n=67), asymptomatic (n=230) canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL), and (n=53) uninfected domestic dogs as control group. Results: Anti-leishmanial antibodies were detected in 97 (27. 7%), 96 (27. 4%) and 29 (%9) of the serum samples by using DAT, rA2-ELISA, and rA2-latex, respectively with ≥ 1: 320 as a cut-off titer when DAT-confirmed cases were compared with the control groups. A combined sensitivity of 52% and specificity of 82. 40% for rA2-ELISA and 23. 8% and specificity 95. 38%, respectively were found with ≥ 1: 320 as a cut-off titer when DAT-confirmed cases were compared with the control groups. The concordance between rA2-ELISA and rA2 latex compared with DAT as a gold standard serological test for VL were found 73. 7% and 77. 5%, respectively. Conclusion: A good degree of agreement was found between rA2-ELISA and DAT (73. 7%). rA2-ELISA could detect more seropositive serum samples than rA2-LAT and it may be recommended as an alternative tool for the diagnosis of CVL.