Leptospira interrogans in mammals in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine, 2001-2015

Abstract

This study describes changes in the prevalence of Leptospira interrogans infections among small mammals, including rats and larger domestic and wild mammals in Lviv Oblast, a region in western Ukraine from 2001–2015, using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). A total of 439,948 domestic or wild animals were tested. We found the prevalence of Leptospira interrogans exposure varied among tested species and changed over the time. Infection was significantly less common in domestic animals, than in wild rodents. In swine the overall seroprevalence was 0.51%, while in cattle it was 0.19%. In dogs it was higher—2.75%. After 2006, evidence of infection was only observed in swine among domestic animals. The prevalence among large wild animals (0.25%) was similar to that among domestic animals. Among small mammals and rats, seroprevalence was most commonly observed among Rattus norvegicus (18.44%) and it was less common among other wild small mammals (8.74%). There were two dominant serogroups among large wild and domestic animals–L. icterohaemorrhagiae and L. hebdomadis while among wild small mammals the two most common were L. icterohaemorrhagiae and L. grippotyphosa. Wild animals with antibodies were found throughout the entire oblast.

A systematic review on leptospirosis in cattle: a European perspective

“…= 1; max. = 24 strains), with a median of 10.5 strains per panel [57, [59][60][61][62][65][66][67]71,72,74,75,[77][78][79][81][82][83][84][85][87][88][89][90][91][92]94,95].…”

“…were predominantly used. The MAT was the most commonly employed method (n = 36 studies, 58.1%) and predominantly performed on serum samples [57, [59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][81][82][83][84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93][94][95], although Grégoire et al used pleural fluids from aborted foetuses as an alternative [96]. ELISA was also widely used (n = 19, 30.6%), on serum [46,51,55,56,80,85,97] or milk [45,47,48,50,[52][53][54]…”

“…Within countries, regional or local estimations of the seroprevalence exhibited great variations, e.g. in Belgium [75,80,85,86,96], France [59,60,[63][64][65][66], Spain [67,71,78], Ukraine [81,92,95] The serogroup diversity is relatively stable over the 20 years (Fig 4). Three serogroups were sporadically reported, namely Cynopteri and Panama in 2018 only [85] and Pyrogenes in 2018 [85] and 2020 [96], even though these serogroups were tested in other studies [59,61,63,66,68,75,81,87,91].…”

“…Within countries, regional or local estimations of the seroprevalence exhibited great variations, e.g. in Belgium [75,80,85,86,96], France [59,60,[63][64][65][66], Spain [67,71,78], Ukraine [81,92,95] and the United Kingdom [44][45][46][47][48][49][50]. The serogroup diversity is relatively stable over the 20 years (Fig 4).…”

One health approach on serosurvey of anti-Leptospira spp. in homeless persons and their dogs in South Brazil

“…Transmission may occur through contact with contaminated urine of sewer rats ( Rattus novergicus ) that serve as the main reservoir in urban settings, or through exposure to soil or water contaminated with Leptospira spp. [ 2 ]. This disease affects vulnerable populations in tropical countries due to socio-environmental issues including inadequate infrastructure and sanitation, water and soil contamination, garbage accumulation, and rodent proliferation; all of which are common scenarios in Brazilian slums [ 3 , 4 ].…”