Human leptospirosis: seroreactivity and genetic susceptibility in the population of São Miguel Island (Azores, Portugal) (original) (raw)

Prevalence and risk factors for human leptospirosis in a rural district of Pelotas, a city in southernmost Brazil

Research, Society and Development

Leptospirosis is one of the most widespread zoonosis in the world. In humans, the disease is responsible for more than a million cases annually. The purpose of this study was to assess human seroprevalence to leptospirosis in a rural community of southernmost Brazil. Furthermore, we assess possible epidemiological cues associated with seroprevalence. A total of 216 individuals were enrolled in the study. With an overall seroprevalence of 21.3% (n=46), to at least one of the 12 antigens tested. Seroreactivity was associated with 13 of the investigated cues, including those associated with the individuals, their behavior, environment, domestic animals, and synanthropic rodents. While seroprevalence was not particularly high when compared to other studies in similar populations, some of the risk factors associated with the disease are easy to circumvent, and indications for policymakers and future studies are made within.

A clonal subpopulation of Leptospira interrogans sensu stricto is the major cause of leptospirosis outbreaks in Brazil

Journal of clinical microbiology, 2000

Leptospira is a highly diverse genus comprising many species and serogroups in Brazil as well as all over the world. However, a study by arbitrarily primed PCR of 44 leptospiral strains isolated from humans during three different outbreaks in Brazilian urban centers reveals that 43 of 44 isolates exhibit very similar fingerprints. Analysis of these isolates indicates that they belong to a clonal subpopulation of Leptospira interrogans sensu stricto.

Fifteen years of human leptospirosis in São Paulo, Brazil

Journal of Epidemiological Research, 2015

Objective: Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp. The aim of this study was to report theincidence of leptospirosis from 1998 to 2012 in the state of São Paulo, Brazil to show the importance of human leptospirosis andto describe some epidemiological characteristics.Methods: From January 1998 to December 2012, sera from patients with suspected leptospirosis were analyzed. The microscopicagglutination test (MAT) was used for serological investigations and MLST, serotyping and PFGE methods for the identificationof leptospires. The descriptive seasonal analysis was performed with Excel Microsoft version 2007. Pearson’s correlation wasused to assess the association between rainfall and the number of cases.Results: Among 22,795 serum samples, 2,430 cases of leptospirosis were laboratory confirmed, giving an average incidence rateof 1.35/100,000 inhabitants. Of these patients, 2,032 (83.62%) were male with a predominance in the age groups of 21-50 years....