Megan Staples¹

¹Supervising Scientist Leptospirosis Reference Laboratory, Queensland Health and WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Leptospirosis (Western Pacific Region)

Leptospirosis is a widespread bacterial zoonoses of global importance and is a notifiable disease in all states and territories of Australia. The Queensland Health Leptospirosis Reference Laboratory located in Brisbane, Australia is also a World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Leptospirosis and provides leptospirosis diagnostic testing and associated support for Australia and the broader Western Pacific Region. 

Leptospiral diagnostics are complex due to the biphasic nature of leptospirosis disease and require clinical consideration around testing requests. Acute phase diagnostics are largely based around the detection of the organism through culture and molecular methods, whereas convalescent phase diagnostics rely predominately on serological techniques. Typing of leptospiral infections allows for further insights into the likely source of infection, potential outbreak linkages and provides valuable epidemiological information for leptospirosis in our region.

This presentation will focus on leptospirosis diagnostics and associated typing, in addition to epidemiologic trends and characteristics, covering both current capabilities and future direction potential as shaped by ongoing research in the genomics space.