Molecular epidemiology of pathogenic <i>Leptospira</i> spp. among large ruminants in the Philippines

Abstract

The extent of Leptospira infection in large ruminants resulting to economic problems in livestock industry in a leptospirosis-endemic country like the Philippines has not been extensively explored. Therefore, we determined the prevalence and carrier status of leptospirosis in large ruminants using molecular techniques and assessed the risk factors of acquiring leptospirosis in these animals. Water buffalo and cattle urine samples (n=831) collected from 21 farms during 2013–2015 were subjected to flaB-nested PCR to detect pathogenic Leptospira spp. Leptospiral flaB was detected in both species with a detection rate of 16.1%. Leptospiral DNA was detected only in samples from animals managed in communal farms. Sequence analysis of Leptospira flaB in large ruminants revealed the formation of three major clusters with L. borgpetersenii or L. kirschneri. One farm contained Leptospira flaB sequences from all clusters identified in this study, suggesting this farm was the main source of leptospires for other farms. This study suggested that these large ruminants are infected with various pathogenic Leptospira species causing possible major economic loss in the livestock industry as well as potential Leptospira reservoirs that can transmit infection to humans and other animals in the Philippines.

An overview on the molecular diagnosis of animal leptospirosis

“…Similarly, sequence analysis of Leptospira flaB in large ruminants revealed the formation of three major clusters with L. borgpetersenii or L. kirschneri and molecular epidemiology based on this gene clarified the main source of leptospires for other farms (Villanueva et al . 2016).…”

“…Restriction fragment length polymorphism of the PCR product of this gene was successfully used to discriminate between Leptospira species in the laboratory (Kawabata et al 2001) and was also used in field settings to study the molecular epidemiology of canine leptospirosis in Japan (Koizumi et al 2013). Gamage and colleagues 2012 borgpetersenii or L. kirschneri and molecular epidemiology based on this gene clarified the main source of leptospires for other farms (Villanueva et al, 2016).…”

“…As the technique uses two sets of primers instead of one, specificity increases by reducing background due to non-specific amplification of DNA. The methodology was also applied using other targets such as lipL32 (Bomfim et al, 2008;Fraune et al, 2013), 16S rRNA (Faber et al, 2000;Kim et al, 2006;Taghadosi et al, 2016) and flab (Koizumi et al, 2013;Gamage et al, 2014;Villanueva et al, 2016).…”

Understanding leptospirosis eco-epidemiology by environmental DNA metabarcoding of irrigation water from two agro-ecological regions of Sri Lanka

“…Interestingly, while cattle association was high with several Leptospira species, water buffalo association was high only with L. borgpetersenii suggesting a more restricted host preference for this species in Sri Lanka (Fig 4). L. borgpetersenii have been associated with water buffalo in several reports [60,61]. Since large mammals that excrete much more urine than rats shed significantly more Leptospira per day, our results suggested that large mammals are the main contaminating source of irrigation water in Kandy.…”

“…L . borgpetersenii have been associated with water buffalo in several reports [ 60 , 61 ]. Since large mammals that excrete much more urine than rats shed significantly more Leptospira per day, our results suggested that large mammals are the main contaminating source of irrigation water in Kandy.…”