Identification of Leptospira using Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction

Introduction: Leptospirosis is a zooanthroponotic disease caused by the spirochaete, Leptospira interrogans, sometimes leading to multiorgan failure and death in humans. Materials and Methods: A total of 45 leptospiral isolates from patients with leptospirosis, who attended the medicine department of the hospital in Kolenchery, during the period January 2000-June 2002 were stocked till the time of the study. Arbitrarily primed PCR was carried out using the primer PB - 1:5'-GCG CTG GCT CAG - 3'. Results: The DNA extracts gave bands at 23 kb region. In arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction, for most serovars, differentiating bands were observed between 200 and 1200 bp. The predominant serovar in the region was autumnalis (38%) followed by pyrogenes (16%). Conclusion: A database with distinctive genetic patterns of pathogenic leptospires isolated from humans as well as animals of a particular region is necessary and should be taken up by reference laboratories since new patterns may crop up due to the inherent variability of the repetitive element.