{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T17:37:48Z","timestamp":1792085868107,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,15]],"date-time":"2024-03-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1710460800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Leptospirosis is the most widespread zoonosis in the world. The disease is more prevalent in tropical regions where the majority of developing countries are located. Leptospirosis is considered a protean manifestation zoonosis with severity of the disease ranging from a mild febrile illness to a severe and life-threatening illness. Clinical symptoms of leptospirosis overlap with other tropical febrile illnesses. Early, rapid, and definitive diagnosis is important for effective patient management. Since Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based assays are not readily available in most clinical settings, there is a need for an affordable, simple, and rapid diagnostic test. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) and Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) were implemented at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, and a prospective study to evaluate RPA for diagnosis of acute phase of leptospirosis was conducted. Results indicate that RPA and qPCR were positive in 81% (98\/121) of the total positive and acute clinical samples. Of the 81 positive MAT confirmed patients 60 (74%) and 53 (65%) were positive with qPCR and RPA respectively. Retrospective evaluation revealed a high diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity-70% and specificity-87%) of RPA compared to MAT as the reference gold standard. Results further suggest that there is no significant difference between the two assays, qPCR and RPA-SwiftX (P = 0.40). Laboratory procedures for the extraction and detection by qPCR in the laboratory have been optimized to obtain results within 6 hours. However, the RPA-SwiftX method under field conditions took 35 minutes. The RPA-SwiftX method could replace the qPCR which shows similar sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, RPA established under the current study presents a powerful tool for the early and rapid diagnosis of leptospirosis at point-of-care.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0295287","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,15]],"date-time":"2024-03-15T17:38:22Z","timestamp":1710524302000},"page":"e0295287","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Detection of pathogenic Leptospira with rapid extraction followed by recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay-A comprehensive study from Sri Lanka"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Hansi","family":"Uduwawala","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aresha","family":"Manamperi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gayana P. 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