Cross-Sectional Study of Leptospira Seroprevalence in Humans, Rats, Mice, and Dogs in a Main Tropical Sea-Port City

Abstract

Abstract. Samples were collected from 128 symptomatic humans, 83 dogs, 49 mice, and 20 rats (Rattus rattus: 16; Rattus norvegicus: 4) in neighborhoods where human leptospirosis have been reported within the principal sea-port city of Colombia. Seroprevalences were assessed against 19 pathogenic, 1 intermediate pathogenic, and 1 saprophytic Leptospira serogroups. Pathogenic Leptospira were confirmed using conventional Leptospira-specific polymerase chain-reaction and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis analysis was used for serovar identification. Seroprevalences of 20.4%, 12.5%, 25.0%, 22.9%, and 12.4% were obtained against one to seven different serogroups in mice, R. rattus, R. norvegicus, dogs, and humans, respectively. The DNA was confirmed to be from pathogenic Leptospira by detecting the lipL32 gene in 12.5%, 3.7%, and 0.03% of the R. rattus, dog, and human samples, respectively. The first genetically typed Colombian isolate was obtained from a rat and identified as Leptospira interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae/Copenhageni.

Detection of Leptospira in cattle and dogs in Dakahlia Governorate

“…In dogs, the adults showed fever, weakness, stiff gait, reluctant movement, sunken eyes, salivation and jaundice while puppies showed fever and dyspnea. Similar clinical signs were reported by many authors (Lather et al, 2009;Romero-Vivas et al, 2013).…”

Genetic diversity of Leptospira in northwestern Colombia: first report of Leptospira santarosai as a recognised leptospirosis agent

“…The isolates from capuchin monkeys and rodents were identified as L. interrogans ; this species is the major causative agent of leptospirosis worldwide (Levett et al 2006). In Colombia, L. interrogans has been found to infect capuchin monkeys, rodents and pigs (Szonyi et al 2011, Romero-Vivas et al 2013a, b). …”

“…The majority of Colombian studies have been limited to investigating leptospirosis outbreaks or studying seroprevalence in specific populations in certain regions of the country (Sebek et al 1989, Epstein et al 1995, Ochoa et al 2000, Nájera et al 2005, Ferro et al 2006, Romero et al 2010). However a few studies in Colombia have incorporated molecular and serological identification of clinical isolates by serological typing, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field electrophoresis (WHO 2003, Szonyi et al 2011, Romero-Vivas et al 2013a, b). Since there is little information available about the genetic diversity of species and serovars in Colombia, it is important to identify the causative agents of human leptospirosis and its distribution in animal hosts and environmental sources.…”

Estimate of the reproduction number of the 2015 Zika virus outbreak in Barranquilla, Colombia, and estimation of the relative role of sexual transmission

“…Here we examine the outbreak of ZIKV that began in 2015 in Barranquilla, Colombia. Barranquilla is the major Colombian port city on the Caribbean coast, with a population of 1.4 million (Romero-Vivas et al, 2013). It is a center of development in Colombia, and in recent years has experienced a rapid expansion of urbanization (Romero-Vivas et al, 2013).…”