A serological survey of canine leptospirosis in the city of Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

Canine leptospirosis is a zoonosis caused by bacteria belonging to the genus Leptospira. Dogs are one of the animal species involved in the cycle of preservation and transmission of leptospirosis in urban areas. Serological testing for the presence of specific antibodies against Leptospira spp. in dogs was continuously performed between 2010 and 2020 in the city of Belgrade. At the request of the owners themselves, other veterinary laboratories or laboratory clinics, 179 blood sera from 179 dogs were examined in the Laboratory for Immunology, Scientific Institute of Veterinary Medicine of Serbia. Blood sera samples from dogs were examined using the standard microscopic agglutination test (MAT) for the presence of specific antibodies against seven different serovars of Leptospira: Pomona, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Grippotyphosa, Sejroe, Canicola, Bataviae, and Australis. The number of seropositive dogs was 17/179 (9.5%). Among all examined sera, the highest titre of seropositive samples was to serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae (10/17, 58.8%), followed by Pomona (4/17, 23.5%), and serovar Canicola (3/17, 17.6%). Specific antibodies for serovars Grippotyphosa, Sejroe, Bataviae and Australis were not detected in any of the dog sera. Cross-reaction (the presence of two or three titres with different values where one of them was higher than others) between different serovars was diagnosed in a low number of sera (n=4), with the following serovars: Icterohaemorrhagiae and Pomona (n=3) and Pomona and Canicola (n=1). The confirmed specific antibody titres for Leptospira spp. were between 1:100 to 1:3000 (5 sera had titres of 1:100, 7 had titres of 1:300, 4 had titres of 1:1000, and 1 serum had a titre 1:3000). Monitoring canine leptospirosis is a useful tool in preventing leptospirosis in Belgrade.

Genotyping ofLeptospiraspp. in wild rats leads to first time detection ofL. kirshneriserovar Mozdok in Serbia

“…Although Leptospirosis has been the subject of numerous studies across various geographical regions, this present investigation in Serbia marks a significant contribution to the field. Prior research in Serbia had mainly focused on seroprevalence and seroepidemiological studies [16][17][18][19][20]. However, our study distinguishes itself as the first in Serbia to employ molecular and multilocus sequence typing analysis for Leptospira species.…”

“…In Serbia, the presence of pathogenic Leptospira sp. has been documented in various animals including small wild mammals [16], however most of the studies in Serbia have been focused on seroprevalence and 4 seroepidemiological detection of antibodies in samples from cats [17], dogs [18], cattle and sheep [19] and humans [20]. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to perform molecular and multilocus sequence typing analysis of Leptospira species in Serbia.…”

Genotyping of Leptospira spp. in wild rats leads to first time detection of L. kirshneri serovar Mozdok in Serbia

“…Although Leptospirosis has been the subject of numerous studies across various geographical regions, this present investigation in Serbia marks a significant contribution to the field. Prior research in Serbia had mainly focused on seroprevalence and seroepidemiological studies ( Svirčev et al, 2009 ; Obrenović et al, 2014 ; Vojinović et al, 2022 ). However, our study distinguishes itself as the first in Serbia to employ molecular and multilocus sequence typing analysis for Leptospira species.…”

“…In Serbia, the presence of pathogenic Leptospira sp. has been documented in various animals including small wild mammals ( Blagojević et al, 2019 ), however most of the studies in Serbia have been focused on seroprevalence and seroepidemiological detection of antibodies in samples from cats ( Obrenović et al, 2014 ), dogs ( Vojinović et al, 2022 ) and humans ( Svirčev et al, 2009 ). To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to perform molecular and multilocus sequence typing analysis of Leptospira species in Serbia.…”