Pathogenic leptospira isolates from the Caribbean Island of Barbados

ABSTRACT

This paper lists all the known pathogenic leptospira isolates made on Barbados up to December 31, 1981. Only 17 of the total of 78 have already been reported on. The 78 isolates were obtained from humans, dogs, rats, mongooses and a mouse, and the serogroups to which they belonged were Icterohaemorrhagiae, Autumnalis, Ballum and Canicola. On Barbados, serogroup Autumnalis is an important human pathogen, and rats are an important reservoir of leptospires. The investigation and isolation of leptospires on Barbados has until recently been sporadic, dependent on the interst and enthusiasm of a few individuals, and restricted by a shortage of money and manpower. During 1964 and 1965 the Barbados Ministries of Health and Agriculture and the U.K. Ministry of Overseas Development investigated the impact of rodents on the health and economy of Barbados. As part of this study, leptospires wer isolated by taylor and identified to serogroup by Turner. The results are recorded in an unpublished document (Taylor, 1965). Between 1971 and 1981, Leptospira were isolated from rodents, mongooses (Herpestes auropunctatus), dogs and amphibians at the Barbados Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL) by Jones and Everard. Twenty-three of these isolates survived and were identified by Myers and Dr. C. R. Sulzer of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta, U.S.A. Seventeen of the 23 have been reported on(Jones, 1974; Myers and Jones, 1975; Damude et al., 1979a), and they are included here for the sake of completeness. In 1979 10 Autumnalis isolates made by Taylor in 1964-1965 were reactivated from liquid nitrogen, cultured, and identified to serovar by Everard. The identifications were confirmed by Dr. Sulzer. The remaining 33 isolates in Taylor's series were not reactivated. From November 1979, isolates were made by Everard from patients at Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Bridgetown, and were identified to serovar by Dr. Sulzer. These studies have provided all the isolates recorded here. The Leptospiral Serotype DistributionList (Galton, 1966) do not have an entry for Barbados, but the supplement to the 1966 edition covering the period July 1966 to July 1973 (Sulzer, 1975) lists Autumnalis fort-bragg isolated from a rat, and Canicola, Ballum and Icterohaemorrhagiae from specified hosts. Barbados obtained up to December 31, 1981. Only 17 of the isolates have been previously reported. All the Leptospira isolates recorded from Trinidad, Grenada and St. Vincent up to the end of 1979 are listed by Everard et al. (180). (AU)