Current Status of Leptospirosis: A Zoonotic Tropical Disease (original) (raw)
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Leptospirosis: A Neglected Zoonosis of Public Health Concern
Leptospirosis is an important emerging and re-emerging zoonotic disease that is spread worldwide by pathogenic species of the bacterium genus Leptospira. The disease is commonly reported especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Leptospirosis is a neglected tropical zoonotic disease that is rapidly becoming a major public health issue around the world. Leptospirosis has emerged as a prominent cause of acute febrile disease in many developing nations due to neglect, rapid, unplanned urbanization, and poor sanitation. Although it has been stated that leptospirosis is the most frequent zoonotic illness, it is thought to be underreported due to the non-specificity of clinical symptoms and the lack of laboratory confirmation in endemic areas. A wide range of clinical manifestations, ranging from asymptomatic infection to fulminant, deadly disease, is characteristic of the disease. Laboratory help is needed to confirm an unequivocal diagnosis of leptospirosis. Antibacterial antibiotics are used to treat the acute illness in the patient. This mini review includes all current information on leptospirosis, including its etiology, transmission, clinical symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and preventative measures.
Review on Leptospirosis and its Public Health Significance
Leptospirosis is the most widespread and most prevalent zoonotic disease caused by Leptospira bacteria this is pathogenic Gramnegative bacteria, the disease leptospirosis a zoonotic disease of global importance. It caused by various serovars of leptospira interrogans that belong to the genus Leptospira. Besides leptospira interrogans is the most serovars like the disease occurs in nearly all mammalian species. The highest burden in low-income both found in urban and in rural environments. Rodents are known as the main reservoir animals, However, all animals are reservoir include human so leptospirosis is more common in the tropical regions rather than subtropics because of the longer survival of the organism in the environment and frequent exposure of animals and humans to contaminated environments. Direct transmission to humans by broken skin and mucous membranes exposed to the urine of infected animals. While the clinical signs of leptospirosis do not vary greatly with the species of animals include laboratory tests. Control and prevention is sanitary measures, vaccination, quarantine and rodent control are the most important control measures of the disease, require elimination of the carrier state, maintenance of environmental condition and immunization of the animal, tropical areas where warm humid conditions and alkaline or neutral soil helps leptospira survive better.
Leptospirosis a zoonotic disease of global
In the past decade, leptospirosis has emerged as a globally important infectious disease. It occurs in urban environments of industrialised and developing countries, as well as in rural regions worldwide. Mortality remains significant, related both to delays in diagnosis due to lack of infrastructure and adequate clinical suspicion, and to other poorly understood reasons that may include inherent pathogenicity of some leptospiral strains or genetically determined host immunopathological responses. Pulmonary haemorrhage is recognised increasingly as a major, often lethal, manifestation of leptospirosis, the pathogenesis of which remains unclear. The completion of the genome sequence of Leptospira interrogans serovar lai, and other continuing leptospiral genome sequencing projects, promise to guide future work on the disease. Mainstays of treatment are still tetracyclines and-lactam/cephalosporins. No vaccine is available. Prevention is largely dependent on sanitation measures that may be difficult to implement, especially in developing countries.
Bantara Journal of Animal Science , 2020
Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease that occurs globally. Leptospires are transmitted through the urine of infected mice, through injured skin or mucosal invasion. Infection can occur through direct contact or through contact with contaminated water or soil. This qualitative research uses a combination of epidemiological studies with a case study approach. Rat urine metabolism samples will be tested by testing the base pair chain through the Polymerase Chain Reaction method for leptospirosis. Electrophoresis results showed 5% percent of positive samples with 330 bp. The conclusion of this study, the molecular identification of leptospirosis from rat urine using the Polymerase Chain Reaction technique are found positive results so prevention is needed to control the distribution of pathogenic leptospirosis bacteria. Urban rats (Rattus rattus) in leptospirosis transmission are considered as the most important leptospira reservoir, because high population densities of this species can cause an increase in the spread of leptospirosis.
Global Epidemiological Overview of Leptospirosis
Leptospirosis is an infectious disease caused by leptospira species, which has over 20 serogroups and more than 250 serovars and distributed worldwide. wild mammals particularly, rodents are the primary reservoir of the infection where as domestic animals such as cattle, dogs and pigs may act as carriers for several months (temporary carrier) while rodents usually remain carrier throughout their life (permanent carrier). Rodents are therefore considered as the major reservoir of infection. Leptospirae are excreted in the urine of the animals and they affect man when he comes into contact with urine of infected animals, directly or indirectly, when he is exposed to an environment contaminated by the urine of the infected animals such as soil and surface water. It has a considerable public health and economic impact. Primarily, leptospirosis is an occupational disease affecting many labourers (like: Veterinarians, rice field workers, farmers, sugarcane cutters, fishermen, meat-and sewer workers) in their productive age. Apart from the costs of treatment, this generates economic losses by a decreased income both at the personal and national level. There is an enormous economic impact on the international trade of animals and semen. Economic losses are also caused by cost for treatment and control and by reduced milk yields and reproductive failures. The diagnosis of this disease in man and animals is investigated by direct and indirect laboratory methods. Direct methods includes immunofluorescence staining, immunoperoxidase staining, silver staining and various methods of Polymerase Chain Reaction; while the indirect methods includes various types of ELISA tests, the spot agglutination test or methods reliably identifying the infecting serovars, such as the microscopic agglutination test. Human leptospirosis can be controlled by reducing its prevalence in wild and domestic animals. Leptospirosis in domestic animals can be controlled through vaccination with inactivated whole cells. Sanitation and control of rodents are also important for prevention and control. The reported prevalence values of animal infection across the world are between 2 and 46% depending on the animal species.
Jundishapur Journal of Microbiology, 2013
Leptospirosis is an important zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira which can infect both humans and animals. This disease is caused by various serovars of Leptospira interroganssensu lato infection. Rats are known to be one of the most important reservoirs and transmission sources of leptospirosis. However, the status of leptospirosis in wild rats has been unknown in many areas of Iran. Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the seroprevalence of leptospiral infection in wild rats (Rattus rattus) in Ahvaz district (southwest of Iran) from October 2009 to November 2011. Materials and Methods: Rats were trapped alive, anaesthetized, and blood-extracted by cardiac puncture. Serum samples were collected from 120 wild rats and screened for different leptospiral serovars using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The rats were classified according to sex, season and region of capture. The results were analyzed by Chi-square analysis and Fisher's exact test. Results: From a total of 120 rats, 4 (3.33%) were serologically positive for the L. gryppotyphosa serovar. All positive titers were detected at 1:100 dilutions. Antibodies against more than one serovar were not detected in any sample. The prevalence of leptospiral infection was 2.5% and 0.83% in male and female rats, respectively. There was no significant difference in positive titer prevalence between different sexes, seasons and areas (P > 0.05). Conclusions: This survey indicated that serovars of L. gripotyphosa are prevalent in the rats population of this area and can be a source of infection for humans. The results of the present study provide useful information on the epidemiology of leptospirosis in this species, which was not well studied before.
PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2017
Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira for which rats are considered as the main reservoir. Disease incidence is higher in tropical countries, especially in insular ecosystems. Our objectives were to determine the current burden of leptospirosis in Seychelles, a country ranking first worldwide according to historical data, to establish epidemiological links between animal reservoirs and human disease, and to identify drivers of transmission. A total of 223 patients with acute febrile symptoms of unknown origin were enrolled in a 12-months prospective study and tested for leptospirosis through real-time PCR, IgM ELISA and MAT. In addition, 739 rats trapped throughout the main island were investigated for Leptospira renal carriage. All molecularly confirmed positive samples were further genotyped. A total of 51 patients fulfilled the biological criteria of acute leptospirosis, corresponding to an annual incidence of 54.6 (95% CI 40.7-71.8) per 100,000 in...
Serological and molecular prevalence of Leptospira infection in Rat populations in Kuala Lumpur
Leptospirosis is a communicable disease of humans and animals caused by infection with Leptospira spp. It is considered a re-emerging infection that reported by outbreaks in both developed and developing countries including the United States, countries of Latin America and Southeast Asia. Leptospirosis has been recorded as endemic in Malaysia since four decades. Several outbreaks has occurred exemplifying by the EcoChallenge Sabah 2000 competition, when caused in cases of people mortality and raised health authorities worried. Rats were recorded as the main source of infection since they maintain most of the leptospiral serovars. Leptospires colonized the renal tubules of the rat kidneys and then, rats disseminated the infection to the environment. Humans exposed to infection via direct or indirect contact with the urine or blood of infected animals. The objective of this study was to determine the serologic and molecular prevalence of Leptospira spp. circulating within rat communities in Kuala Lumpur. A total of 112 wild rats were trapped; R rattus (84%) and R norvegicus (16%) from four urban slums locations in Kuala Lumpur. Blood samples and kidneys of all animals were collected. Anti leptospiral antibodies were detected in sera by microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Kidney tissues were subjected to leptospiral DNA extraction and screened for Leptospira infection by multiplex PCR examined with two sets of primers; 16S rRNA and lipL32. Results: 63/112 (56%) sera were detected positive for anti leptospiral antibodies. Serovars; Bataviae and Javanica were recorded as recent infection. whereas, Icterohearragia, Canicola, Australis, Pomona and Andamana were reported as previous infection. mPCR assay confirmed the infection; 60 /112 (53.6%) of DNA samples were positive to 16S rRNA gene and 56 /112 (50%) of DNA were positive to lipL32 gene (the gene of virulence). Cohens’ K was carried for agreement between PCR-16S rRNA, PCR- lipL32 detection and serologic detection by MAT. The agreement was an almost perfect between mPCR-16S rRNA, lipL32 and MAT; K=1.000, 0.929 respectively with a significant differences P<0.001. PCR16S rRNA, lipL32 sensitivity was 100% in comparison with MAT. Whereas, PCR-16S rRNA, lipL32 specificity was 100% and 93.3% respectively in comparison with MAT. Categories such as rat species, gender and age were studied. The infection is more common among adult rats than sub-adults and this difference was statistically significant (χ2 = 6.748a ; P=0.009). whereas, species and gender were not statically