Prevalence and Genotype Allocation of Pathogenic Leptospira Species in Small Mammals from Various Habitat Types in Germany

Abstract

Small mammals serve as most important reservoirs for Leptospira spp., the causative agents of Leptospirosis, which is one of the most neglected and widespread zoonotic diseases worldwide. The knowledge about Leptospira spp. occurring in small mammals from Germany is scarce. Thus, this study’s objectives were to investigate the occurrence of Leptospira spp. and the inherent sequence types in small mammals from three different study sites: a forest in southern Germany (site B1); a National Park in south-eastern Germany (site B2) and a renaturalised area, in eastern Germany (site S) where small mammals were captured. DNA was extracted from kidneys of small mammals and tested for Leptospira spp. by real-time PCR. Positive samples were further analysed by duplex and conventional PCRs. For 14 positive samples, multi locus sequence typing (MLST) was performed. Altogether, 1213 small mammals were captured: 216 at site B1, 456 at site B2 and 541 at site S belonging to following species: Sorex (S.) araneus, S. coronatus, Apodemus (A.) flavicollis, Myodes glareolus, Microtus (Mi.) arvalis, Crocidura russula, Arvicola terrestris, A. agrarius, Mustela nivalis, Talpa europaea, and Mi. agrestis. DNA of Leptospira spp. was detected in 6% of all small mammals. At site B1, 25 small mammals (11.6%), at site B2, 15 small mammals (3.3%) and at site S, 33 small mammals (6.1%) were positive for Leptospira spp. Overall, 54 of the positive samples were further determined as L. kirschneri, nine as L. interrogans and four as L. borgpetersenii while five real-time PCR-positive samples could not be further determined by conventional PCR. MLST results revealed focal occurrence of L. interrogans and L. kirschneri sequence type (ST) 117 while L. kirschneri ST 110 was present in small mammals at all three sites. Further, this study provides evidence for a particular host association of L. borgpetersenii to mice of the genus Apodemus.

Survey for zoonotic pathogens in Norway rat populations from Europe

“…Surveys in Sweden, France and Germany confirmed the presence of Leptospira spp. in small mammals and in Norway rats in particular . The studies in France and Sweden identified L. interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae in rats.…”

Emerging Infectious Disease Implications of Invasive Mammalian Species: The Greater White-Toothed Shrew (Crocidura russula) Is Associated With a Novel Serovar of Pathogenic Leptospira in Ireland

“…for the detection of lipL32 , but such assays do not routinely type positive samples and still rely on a cultured isolate. This was the case in two recent surveys of the greater white-toothed shrew in Germany[63, 64]; in one study, 5 of 24 kidneys were PCR positive for lipL32 [64]. Additional molecular typing suggested that kidneys were positive for L .…”

PathogenicLeptospiraspecies are widely disseminated among small mammals in Atlantic Forest biome

“…There are scarce reports on leptospiral characterization from wildlife. In Europe, the circulating species are L. interrogans , L. kirschneri and L. borgpetersenii (Arent, Gilmore, San‐Miguel Ayanz, Neyra, & García‐Peña, ; Ayral et al., ; Fischer et al., ; Obiegala et al., ), and a recent study in Brazil reported L. interrogans , L. santarosai and L. borgpertesenii (Fornazari et al., ). To our knowledge, L. noguchii strains had never been reported on wildlife.…”

“…The most important reservoirs in nature for pathogenic Leptospira spp. strains are small mammals, that act as essential vectors for this disease (Obiegala et al., ). In the urban environment, the Norwegian rat ( Rattus norvegicus ) is known as the most common reservoir of leptospires (Latifah et al., ).…”

“…In a recent review, Vieira, Pinto, and Lilenbaum () highlighted the need to understand the role of wildlife on the epidemiology of leptospirosis and its impact on livestock and public health, especially regarding direct detection and molecular characterization of the agent. It has increasingly been conducted in other countries, as Germany (Fischer et al., ; Obiegala et al., ), regions of Africa (Dietrich et al., ), France (Ayral et al., ), Chile (Correa, Bucarey, Cattan, Landaeta‐Aqueveque, & Ramírez‐Estrada, ) and Argentina (Lovera et al., ). In this context, and considering the One health approach, the purpose of the present study was to detect wild animals from Atlantic Forest biome that might be acting as carriers of Leptospira spp.…”