01733nas a2200217   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653003500055653001100090653001200101653002000113100001800133700001100151700001600162245009500178300001100273490000700284050003200291520117800323022001401501       1981                            d  c1981 Oct10aFluorescent Antibody Technique10aHumans10aleprosy10aSerologic Tests1 aBharadwaj V P1 aRamu G1 aDesikan K V00aFluorescent leprosy antibody absorption (FLA-ABS) test for early serodiagnosis of leprosy.  a518-240 v53  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>The conventional parameters for the diagnosis of leprosy i.e. clinical symptoms aided by smear and histological examinations, have certain limitations. With the conventional parameters, it is difficult to diagnose new cases in the early stage of leprosy. Recently Abe et al (1976) and Abe and Yoshino (1978) suggested that Florescent Leprosy Antibody Absorption (FLA-ABS) test developed by one of the authors (Abe) might be useful for early serodiagnosis of leprosy. Following this, the FLA-ABS test was standardised at the Central Jalma Institute for Leprosy, Agra to study the usefulness of the test in early serodiagnosis and detection of sub-clinical infections. In the present study sera were collected from 136 cases of different types of leprosy which includes 11 cases with lesions suspected to be leprosy, 58 healthy contacts and 19 healthy controls. Using FLA-ABS test, anti M. leprae antibodies were detected in all types of leprosy irrespective of the type and duration of the disease. The test has shown significantly high positive results in very early cases of leprosy with a duration of 3-6 months and having very small lesions measuring below 2 cms.</p>  a0024-1024