Microhabitat Factors Influenced the Prevalence of Pathogenic Leptospira spp. in Small Mammal Host

Abstract

Leptospirosis, a widespread zoonotic disease, is a public health problem, especially in major urban centres, and is mainly reported to be associated with rats. In Malaysia, focus has been primarily given to the Leptospira prevalence in rodents per se, but there is lack of information on the microhabitat structure of the outbreak areas. We aimed to determine the diversity of small mammal species, microhabitat types, and their prevalence of pathogenic Leptospira spp. in the outbreak areas, which were categorized as urban, semi-urban, and recreational forests. Sampling involved deploying 100 to 300 live traps at each study site. Kidney samples were extracted from selected individuals, for screening of pathogenic Leptospira spp. by PCR. Out of 537 individuals from 15 small mammal species captured, 4 species were recorded from urban, 13 from semi-urban, and 11 from recreational forest sites. From 389 individuals screened, 58 were tested positive for pathogenic Leptospira. Recreational forests recorded the highest prevalence with 19.4% (n = 93), followed by urban, 16.6% (n = 163) and semi-urban sites with 9.8% (n = 133). Seven rodent species were tested positive for pathogenic Leptospira from all areas. R. norvegicus was found to harbour the highest prevalence (66.7%) in urban, R. rattus (53.8%) in semi-urban, whereby M. whiteheadi (44.4%) in recreational forest sites. Microhabitat analysis revealed that rubbish quantity contributed especially strongly to a high prevalence of Leptospira. This study contributes to understanding of the host and microhabitat preferences of Leptospira, which is important in controlling the spread of this disease in human's landscapes.

Prevalence and risk factors of Leptospira infection in urban brown rats (Rattus norvegicus), Vienna, Austria

“…Our findings confirmed that, at the city-scale, the prevalence of Leptospira carriage is heterogeneous (Himsworth et al 2013a;Krojgaard et al 2009;Minter et al 2019) and influenced by the microhabitat, as also demonstrated in (Yusof et al 2019). Our findings highlight that some urban sites, particularly those presenting blue infrastructures (e.g.…”

Small mammal assemblages and their ectoparasite prevalence (Acarina) in mangrove forests of Peninsular Malaysia

“…Overall, the diversity of small mammals in the mangrove forests was relatively poor (Shannon index of <1.0), compared to lowland (Yusof et al 2019) andhighland (Shukor et al 2001) forests in the Malaysian region. From this study, the least diverse small mammals were recorded at KST, which corresponded to the higher level of anthropogenic pressure, as indicated in Mohd-Taib et al (2020).…”

Leptospirosis and Coinfection: Should We Be Concerned?

“…Occupational groups such as banana plantation farmers, sugarcane workers, paddy farmers, veterinarians, animal shelter employees, hunters, wet market workers and abattoir workers are at high risk of infection due to their job description involves contact with water and soils [69,70]. They are typically prone to skin cuts, abrasions during the activities in the particular areas which are providing a suitable environment and are rich with a source of food favouring the presence of rodents [71]. The rodent might share similar places with people, easily moving around and excreting bacteria into the environment via urine [72].…”