Background: Leptospirosis is an emerging infectious disease. The differential diagnosis of leptospirosis is difficult due to the varied and often "flu like" symptoms which may result in a missed or delayed diagnosis. There are over 230 known serovars in the genus Leptospira. Confirmatory serological diagnosis of leptospirosis is usually made using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) which relies on the use of live cultures as the source of antigen, often performed using a panel of antigens representative of local serovars. Other techniques, such as the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and slide agglutination test (SAT), can detect different classes of antibody but may be subject to false positive reactions and require confirmation of these results by the MAT.

The sera of 271 pteropid bats (or flying foxes) collected from Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory were screened against a reference panel of 21 Leptospira spp. using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Sera were collected from December 1997 through August 1999. The MAT panel represented those serovars previously isolated in Australia, as well as exotic serovars found in neighboring countries. Leptospiral antibodies were detected in 75 (28%) of the sera and represented seven serovars, one of which, L. interrogans serovar cynopteri has been regarded as exotic to Australia. Sixty sera were reactive to one serovar, 12 sera were reactive to two serovars, and three sera were reactive to three serovars. The L. kirschneri serovar australis was most frequently identified (60.2%). The findings suggest a previously unrecognized role of pteropid bats in the natural history of leptospirosis. The potential exists for establishment of infection in new host species, the transmission of new serovars to known host species, and for changes in virulence of leptospires as a result of passage through these species.

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Gastropods were held in filtered seawater at room temperature (20-28 °C) and examined for naturally emerged cercariae every 1-3 days for up to one month. Freshly emerged cercariae were transferred to a cavity block in a small volume of seawater and heat-killed by pouring several volumes of near boiling seawater into the dish. Specimens for morphological analysis were fixed in 5% formalin and specimens for molecular analysis were stored in 70% ethanol. The infected gastropod was then dissect

Two newStephanostomum-like cercariae, Cercaria capricornia VII and Cercaria capricornia VIII (Digenea: Acanthocolpidae), are described from the nassariid gastropods Nassarius dorsatus and Nassarius olivaceus collected from the intertidal zone in the Capricornia region of Central Queensland, Australia. Morphological analysis of these new cercariae was augmented with DNA sequence data from the large subunit (LSU) ribosomal DNA region to aid in identification. Bayesian inference analysis of the LSU rDNA revealed that these putative acanthocolpid cercariae nested well within a clade containing species of Stephanostomum, which along with morphological data, suggests they are species of Stephanostomum. Comparative analysis of LSU rDNA sequences also indicates that these two cercariae are not S. adlardi, S. bicoronatum, S. tantabiddii or S. cf. uku, all species known from Australian fishes. The secondary structure of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) rDNA region was inferred for these two cercariae using minimum free energy modelling algorithms. Both cercarial types displayed a four helix ITS2 secondary structure model and differed from each other by two compensatory base changes (CBCs) and nine hemi-CBCs.

Cercariae capricornia I–VI, six new cercariae putatively identified as belonging to the Acanthocolpidae, are described and named from prosobranch gastropods of the family Nassariidae collected from the intertidal zone in the Capricornia region, Central Queensland, Australia. Four species are reported from Nassarius olivaceus and two from N. dorsatus. The cercariae have a unique and complex three-dimensional body shape, including a keel, which differentiates them from previously described acanthocolpid cercariae. These are the first cercariae to be described from these gastropods.

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