Is the microagglutination test (MAT) good for predicting the infecting serogroup for leptospirosis in Brazil?

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic infection caused by pathogenic members of the genus Leptospira spp. Knowledge of the prevalent serovars and their maintenance hosts is essential to understand the disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of serology by the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) to predict the serogroups compared with results of identification of leptospires in São Paulo, Brazil. MAT correctly assigned the serogroup of the infecting isolate in 49/52 cases (94.23%). The serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae was the predominant serogroup (88.46%). This study showed the usefulness of the MAT to correctly identify the infecting serogroup with a good overall agreement between the serologically-identified infecting serogroup and by identification of the isolate and can be used in epidemiological surveys in São Paulo. However, it should be complemented by the identification of Leptospira isolates.