Similarities in Leptospira Serogroup and Species Distribution in Animals and Humans in the Indian Ocean Island of Mayotte

Abstract

Abstract. Our objective was to identify local animal reservoirs of leptospirosis to explain the unusual features of Leptospira strains recently described among patients on the island of Mayotte. By means of a microscopic agglutination test using local clinical isolates, we found that 11.2% of black rats were seropositive to Leptospira, whereas 10.2% of flying foxes, 2% of lemurs, 93.1% of domestic dogs, and 87.5% of stray dogs were seropositive. As observed in humans, Mini was the main serogroup circulating in animals, whereas serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae was absent. Using quantitative polymerase chain reaction, we also showed that 29.8% of rats carried leptospires in their kidneys. The sequencing of 16S rRNA gene sequences of Leptospira found in black rat kidneys identified four genomospecies (Leptospira borgpetersenii, Leptospira interrogans, Leptospira kirschneri, and L. borgpetersenii group B), which established black rats as the major source of leptospirosis transmission to humans. The origins of such a genetic diversity in Leptospira strains are discussed.

The panorama of animal leptospirosis in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, regarding the seroepidemiology of the infection in tropical regions

“…They are extremely virulent [37] and cause severe acute illness in several species, including humans [7,13]. Rats captured in Rio de Janeiro were highly infected [17], consistent with findings from other regions [38,39]. In addition to environmental conditions, this certainly contributes to the predominance of this serogroup in all the studied species in the urban cycle.…”

“…This scenario was not only applicable to Rio de Janeiro; it was recently reported that in the urban area of Salvador, Brazil [41], as well as in other tropical islands [38], where marmosets are predominantly seroreactive against that serogroup. Therefore, similar associations are expected in many tropical regions of the world.…”

Genetic variation of Leptospira isolated from rats catched in Yogyakarta Indonesia

“…Our result showed that qPCR is more sensitive compare to the standard PCR. Previous report by Desvars et al, showed similar result in which detection by using qPCR successfully detect 29.8% of the sample, whereas by using standard PCR was able to detect 14.18% of the samples [22] .…”

Household Characteristics Associated with Rodent Presence and Leptospira Infection in Rural and Urban Communities from Southern Chile

“…44 However, it was much lower than rodent prevalence from reports associated with increase of human cases or outbreak situations, such as 96% in Tandil, Argentina and 43% in Manila, Philippines. 45 Because of the limited value of serology in rodents, 46 the microagglutination test was performed in a subset of 95 rodents only (data not shown), and 2 rodents were seropositive.…”