Recent advances in the diagnosis of leptospirosis

Abstract

their benefit over the traditional standard diagnosis kits in terms of cost, sensitivity, specificity and time. LEPTOSPIRA: THE CAUSATIVE ORGANISMLeptospira is the genus belonging to the order spirochetes, family leptospiracea with the body diameter and length of 0.1 µm and 6-20 µm respectively is comprised of several pathogenic and saprophytic species ( 9). The genus is characterized by the morphological features such as flexibility, spirally shaped (distinctive hooked ends) and the presence of two periplasmic polar inserted internal flagella for motility (10). The cell wall of the bacteria is composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which is homologous to other gram-negative bacteria. The data about heritability of leptospirosis is not still clear but in leptospira the variation in the structural lipopolysaccharide (sugar composition and orientation) is associated with identification of over 200 serovars of the leptospira. Leptospires are classified clinically and genotypically. Clinically, leptospires are classified into pathogenic (parasitic and infectious) and non-pathogenic strains (Saprophytic and non-infectious), whereas genotypic classification relates to the different species based on the phenotypic relationship. Overall, non-pathogenic strains are known to occur in free-living state including L.

A Review on Host-Leptospira Interactions: What We Know and Future Expectations

“…to bind plasminogen on its surface and convert it to plasmin in the presence of an exogenous activator, can provide leptospires with certain advantages. Leptospira associated with plasmin have the capacity to cleave ECM proteins and degrade complement components, such as C3b and IgG, interfering with the deposition of these molecules on the bacterial surface and consequently disrupting the opsonophagocytosis process, which facilitates bacterial immune evasion (Figure 1) (Vieira et al, 2009;Vieira et al, 2011;Vieira et al, 2013;Verma et al, 2020) In the last few years, several proteins experimentally described as located on the Leptospira surface have been identified as plasminogen-binding. Interactions have been demonstrated to occur mainly via the lysine residues in proteins and plasminogen kringle domains, since the interactions were inhibited by a lysine analog, as observed by in vitro assay (Domingos et al, 2012;Teixeira et al, 2015;Fernandes et al, 2016b;Vieira and Nascimento, 2016;Pereira et al, 2017;Passalia et al, 2020a;Passalia et al, 2021).…”

“…to bind plasminogen on its surface and convert it to plasmin in the presence of an exogenous activator, can provide leptospires with certain advantages. Leptospira associated with plasmin have the capacity to cleave ECM proteins and degrade complement components, such as C3b and IgG, interfering with the deposition of these molecules on the bacterial surface and consequently disrupting the opsonophagocytosis process, which facilitates bacterial immune evasion ( Figure 1 ) ( Vieira et al., 2009 ; Vieira et al., 2011 ; Vieira et al., 2013 ; Verma et al., 2020 )…”

Misdiagnosis of pneumorrhagia leptospirosis as common CAP: A case report and literature review

“…Leptospirosis is widespread throughout the world, especially in tropical or subtropical regions [ 2 ]. In China, most provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions are affected by the disease [ 6 ].…”

“…It is commonly known as “rice blast”, "Weil's disease” or “swine fever” and is primarily associated with activities related to agriculture, sanitation, and animal husbandry. It is considered the most widespread zoonosis in the world and has a global distribution, with a higher incidence in the tropics and subtropics [ 2 ]. The number of human cases per 100,000 individuals ranges from 10 to 100 [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Molecular Diagnostic Methods for the Detection of Leptospirosis

“…The disease can spread to humans via direct skin contact with contaminated soil, water, and plants, as well as infected animal urine. 2 In the early stage of infection, the disease shows minor symptoms such as cold, fever, headache, and jaundice; later on, it causes Weil's illness, an acute type of leptospirosis causing liver and lung failure, resulting in death. 3,4 Leptospirosis is commonly diagnosed by laboratory tests such as microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and Enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA), which are reliable and sensitive.…”