THE USE OF WHOLE-BLOOD IN A DIPSTICK ASSAY FOR DETECTION OF ANTIBODIES TO MYCOBACTERIUM-LEPRAE - A FIELD-EVALUATION

We describe a further simplification of a dipstick assay for the detec tion of antibodies to phenolic glycolipid I of Mycobacterium leprae by using whole blood and evaluated the assay performance in the leprosy endemic area of Amazonas in Brazil. The agreement with the 'gold' stan dard ELISA was 94.9% (kappa value = 0.87). This simple assay may be us eful to identify those at risk of developing leprosy, for example amon g contacts of leprosy patients at lower levels in the health services. (C) 1998 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.