Small Mammals as Carriers/Hosts of Leptospira spp. in the Western Amazon Forest

Medeiros, Luciana dos Santos; Domingos, Susan Christina Braga; Azevedo, Maria Isabel Nogueira Di; Peruquetti, Rui Carlos; Albuquerque, Narianne Ferreira de; D’Andrea, Paulo Sérgio; Botelho, André Luis de Moura; Crisóstomo, Charle Ferreira; Vieira, Anahi S.; Martins, Gabriel; Teixeira, Bernardo Rodrigues; Carvalho-Costa, Filipe Aníbal; Lilenbaum, Walter

doi:10.3389/fvets.2020.569004

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…santarosai, L. noguchii, and L. interrogans. These species have been previously identified in South America [84][85][86]; L. santarosai and L. noguchii have been reported in asymptomatic wildlife and dogs, and all three have caused severe disease in humans [22,28,83,[87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95]. L. interrogans is the most common and widely distributed pathogenic species and known to also infect rodents and small mammals [96][97][98].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A diverse array of domestic and wild animals likely serve as reservoirs by excreting Leptospira in their urine [13][14][15]. However, like humans, we know little about the prevalence and shedding of these pathogens in peridomestic animal hosts in rural settings [15][16][17][18][19][20], and reports indicating the seroprevalence of the pathogen in wild animals are even more scarce [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. These important epidemiological parameters may be similar across regions, but site-specific attributes such as host densities and interactions (with human and non-human hosts) are likely highly important for the circulation and transmission of Leptospira [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Domestic dogs in indigenous Amazonian communities: key players inLeptospiracycling and transmission?

Guzmán,

Diaz,

Sáenz

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: Leptospirosis is the world's most common zoonotic disease. Mitigation and control rely on pathogen identification and understanding the roles of potential reservoirs in cycling and transmission. Underreporting and misdiagnosis obscure the magnitude of the problem and confound efforts to understand key epidemiological components. Difficulties in culturing hamper the use of serological diagnostics and delay the development of DNA detection methods. As a result, especially in complex ecosystems, we know very little about the importance of different mammalian host species in cycling and transmission to humans. Methodology/Principal Findings: We sampled five indigenous Kichwa communities living in the Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon basin. Blood and urine samples from domestic dogs were collected to assess the exposure of these animals to Leptospira, and to identify the circulating species. Microscopic Agglutination Tests with a panel of 22 different serovars showed anti-leptospira antibodies in 36 sampled dogs (75%), and 10 serotypes were detected. Two DNA-based detection assays revealed pathogenic Leptospira DNA in 18 of 19 dog urine samples (94.7%). Amplicon sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of 16s rDNA and SecY genes from 15 urine samples revealed genetic diversity within two of three different Leptospira species: noguchii (n=7), santarosai (n=7), and interrogans (n=1). Conclusions/Significance: The high prevalence of antibodies and Leptospira DNA provides strong evidence for high rates of past and current infections. Such high prevalence has not been previously reported for dogs. These dogs live in the peridomestic environment in close contact with humans, yet they are free-ranging animals that interact with wildlife. This complex web of interactions may explain the diverse types of pathogenic Leptospira observed in this study. Our results suggest that domestic dogs are likely to play an important role in the cycling and transmission of Leptospira. Future studies in areas with complex ecoepidemiology will enable better parsing of the significance of genotypic, environmental, and host characteristics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Domestic dogs in indigenous Amazonian communities: key players inLeptospiracycling and transmission?

Guzmán,

Diaz,

Sáenz

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…with a TaqMan real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the rrs (16S) gene (Smythe et al., 2002 ). Leptospira ‐positive samples were subjected to conventional PCR amplification, targeting the secY gene (549‐bp fragment), which has been shown to be suitable for species identification and phylogenetic studies (Ahmed et al., 2006 ; Guernier et al., 2017 ; Medeiros et al., 2020 ; Perez & Goarant, 2010 ; Victoria et al., 2008 ). All PCRs were run with negative and positive controls.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of Leptospira spp. in bats and rodents from Papua New Guinea

Javati

Guernier

Jonduo

et al. 2022

Transbounding Emerging Dis

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Leptospirosis is the most common bacterial zoonosis globally. The pathogen, Leptospira spp., is primarily associated with rodent reservoirs. However, a wide range of other species has been implicated as reservoirs or dead-end hosts. We conducted a survey for Leptospira spp. in bats and rodents from Papua New Guinea. Kidney samples were collected from 97 pteropodid bats (five species), 37 insectivorous bats from four different families (six species) and 188 rodents (two species). Leptospires were detected in a high proportion of pteropodid bats, including Nyctimene cf. albiventer (35%), Macroglossus minimus (34%) and Rousettus amplexicaudatus (36%). Partial sequencing of the secY gene from rodent and bat leptospires showed host species clustering, with Leptospira interrogans and L. weilii detected in rodents and L. kirschneri and a potential novel species of Leptospira detected in bats. Further research is needed in Papua New Guinea and other locales in the Pacific region to gain a better understanding of the circulation dynamics of leptospires in reservoir species and the risks to public and veterinary health.

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“…Rodents are the main reservoir hosts of pathogenic Leptospira serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae, along with other marsupial and mammalian species [ 10 ]. Dogs are susceptible to a wide range of serovars.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serological and Molecular Evidence of Pathogenic Leptospira spp. in Stray Dogs and Cats of Sicily (South Italy), 2017–2021

et al. 2023

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Leptospirosis is a zoonosis of public health concern. Its prevalence in stray animals in the South of Italy is unknown. This study aimed to investigate Leptospira spp. prevalence in 1009 stray animals. Out of them, 749 were alive animals, including 358 dogs (316 from Palermo and 42 from Ragusa) and 391 cats (359 from Palermo and 32 from Ragusa), and 260 were corpses (216 dogs and 44 cats) randomly collected in Sicily. Dogs and cats underwent a serological screening by Microscopic Agglutination Test and a molecular investigation by Real-Time PCR targeting lipL32. Corpses were subjected to Real-Time PCR. Serological analyses showed a prevalence of 1.12% (4/358) for dogs and 0.26% (1/391) for cats, with the only positive cat coming from Palermo. Serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae or Copenhageni, followed by Canicola and Bratislava, were the most spread among dogs, while the serological positive cat reacted with Hardjo serogroup. Two urine (2/32, 6.25%) and one blood (1/391, 0.26%) samples of cats, all from Ragusa, were positive at Real-Time PCR for pathogenic Leptospira spp. Sequencing analyses showed the presence of L. interrogans serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae or Copenhageni in one of the positive urine samples and in the positive blood sample. Analyses on corpses showed a prevalence of 1.85% (4/216) in Sicilian dog kidney samples, while all corpses of cats resulted in negative. Genotyping analysis showed a genetic relatedness between cat and human isolates. Results show Leptospira spp. circulation among Sicilian stray animals. The genetic relatedness between cat and human isolates suggests a possible common infection source.

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Small Mammals as Carriers/Hosts of Leptospira spp. in the Western Amazon Forest

Cited by 7 publications

References 28 publications

Domestic dogs in indigenous Amazonian communities: key players inLeptospiracycling and transmission?

Domestic dogs in indigenous Amazonian communities: key players inLeptospiracycling and transmission?

Diversity of Leptospira spp. in bats and rodents from Papua New Guinea

Serological and Molecular Evidence of Pathogenic Leptospira spp. in Stray Dogs and Cats of Sicily (South Italy), 2017–2021

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