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Abstract
Magnetic immuno PCR assay (MIPA) was developed for the rapid detection of leptospires
excreted in urine samples (n = 59) collected from 35 experimentally infected cattle.
The immunomagnetic separation of leptospires from inhibitors in frozen formalin fixed
bovine urine prior to PCR detection resulted in a marked improvement on previous detection
methods. MIPA is a rapid 5 step protocol requiring 70 mins preparation time prior
to amplification, which consistently detects 10(1) organisms. MIPA detected 76% (38/50)
of culture positive urines and in addition three urines that were culture negative
were shown to be positive by this method of detection. Consequently we conclude that
whilst MIPA is an improvement on previously published PCR detection methods, the culture
of the organism is still the standard against which other detection methods have to
be compared.