Paper Title
Isolation of Leptospira in Suspected Cases of Leptospirosis: Is Heparinized Whole Blood a Better Modality

Abstract
Leptospirosis is caused by pathogenic bacteria called leptospires that are transmitted directly or indirectly from animals to humans. It occurs worldwide but is most common in tropical and subtropical areas. It is a potentially serious but treatable disease. Its symptoms may mimic those of a number of other unrelated infections such as influenza, meningitis, hepatitis, dengue, or other viral hemorrhagic fevers. Patients residing in the peripheral areas of South Gujarat may not have easy accessibility to the health care facilities. Also the culture sample if taken in the early course of infection can show good isolation rates. Considering these aspects, this study was planned with the objective to note the isolation rates using heparinized whole blood and compare them with direct culture into the culture media. A total of 221 samples were taken, culture being done by both the methods as mentioned above. Average isolation rate from all the samples was 7.2%. Out of them isolation rate for heparinized whole blood sample was 100% and that for direct culture was 62.5% only. Also the contamination rate with heparinized whole blood was 23.9% and for direct blood culture it was 71.9%. The maximum duration for which the heparinized blood was stored before inoculating them in the culture media and that showed growth was about 8 days to 56 days. So it can be said that heparinized whole blood for isolation of Leptospira is the best modality, as it has low contamination rate, more isolation rate and the time period before which the heparinized sample has to be inoculated in the culture media is more.