Spatial distribution and spread potential of sixteenLeptospiraserovars in a subtropical region of Brazil

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that represents a major problem in animal and public health due to its high prevalence and widespread distribution. This zoonotic disease is most prevalent in tropical environments where conditions favour pathogen survival. The ecological preferences of Leptospira serovars are poorly understood, limiting our knowledge of where and when outbreaks can occur, which may result in misinformed prevention and control plans. While the disease can occur consistently in time and space in tropical regions, research on the ecology of leptospirosis remains limited in subtropical regions. This research gap regarding Leptospira ecology brings public and veterinary health problems, impacting local economies. To fill this gap of knowledge, we suggest to assess geographic and ecological features among Leptospira serovars in a subtropical area of Brazil where leptospirosis is endemic to (a) highlight environmental conditions that facilitate or limit Leptospira spread and survival and (b) reconstruct its geographic distribution. An ecological niche modelling framework was used to characterize and compare Leptospira serovars in both geographic and environmental space. Our results show that despite the geographic overlap exhibited by the different serovars assessed, we found ecological divergence among their occupied ecological niches. Ecological divergences were expressed as ranges of potential distributions and environmental conditions found suitably by serovar, Sejroe being the most asymmetric (<0.15). Most important predictors for the potential distribution of most serovars were soil pH (31.7%) and landscape temperature (24.2%). Identification of environmental preferences will allow epidemiologists to better infer the presence of a serovar based on the environmental characteristics of regions rather than inferences based solely on historical epidemiological records. Including geographic and ecological ranges of serovars also may help to forecast transmission potential of Leptospira in public health and the food animal practice.

Environmental Risk of Leptospirosis in Animals: The Case of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russian Federation

“…The soil units that demonstrated most significant associations with leptospirosis outbreaks can be described as tundra and taiga-specific soils, with a relatively high organic content. Soil pH was found to more significantly influence suitability to leptospirosis, with higher values being more preferable, which correspond well to the findings in [ 40 , 41 ].…”

“…Our results rely on more specific parameters, the interpretation of which may be difficult to compare with the results of other studies. Nevertheless, the revealed patterns may be treated as very similar to the ones reported in [ 21 , 40 , 41 ]. The mean temperature of the wettest quarter, temperature seasonality, temperature variation, and soil pH were the most important environmental factors determining the geographical spread of leptospirosis in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).…”

“…The results of many studies have shown the importance of accounting for environmental factors when studying the epidemiology of leptospirosis [ 21 , 40 , 41 ].…”

Downscaling livestock census data using multivariate predictive models: Sensitivity to modifiable areal unit problem

“…Despite the fact that the application of the GLW methodology has become robust and its application frequent (e.g. [20,[25][26][27][28]), its vulnerability to MAUP has not yet been directly investigated. Previous studies (e.g.…”

Draft Genome Sequence of Leptospira yasudae Strain BJ3, Isolated from the Soil of an Ex Situ Wild Animal Conservation Area

“…Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by helical bacteria from the genus Leptospira ( 1 ). This disease has spread throughout the world, especially in the tropical and subtropical regions ( 2 ). Leptospirosis can be transmitted either through direct contact with the urine of infected animals or indirectly through contaminated soil/water ( 3 ).…”