Carriage of Leptospira interrogans among domestic rats from an urban setting highly endemic for leptospirosis in Brazil.
Acta Trop
; 108(1): 1-5, 2008 Oct.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18721789
ABSTRACT
A survey was conducted to identify reservoirs for urban leptospirosis in the city of Salvador, Brazil. Sampling protocols were performed in the vicinity of households of severe leptospirosis cases identified during active hospital-based surveillance. Among a total of 142 captured Rattus norvegicus (Norwegian brown rat), 80.3% had a positive culture isolate from urine or kidney specimens and 68.1% had a positive serum sample by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) titre of > or = 1100. Monoclonal antibody-based typing of isolates identified that the agent carried by rats was Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni, which was the same serovar isolated from patients during hospital-based surveillance. Leptospira spp. were not isolated from 8 captured Didelphis marsupialis (Opossum), while 5/7 had a positive MAT titre against a saprophytic serogroup. R. rattus were not captured during the survey. The study findings indicate that the brown rat is a major rodent reservoir for leptospirosis in this urban setting. Furthermore, the high carriage rates of L. interrogans serovar Copenhageni in captured rats suggest that there is a significant degree of environmental contamination with this agent in the household environment of high risk areas, which in turn is a cause of transmission during urban epidemics.
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Ratas
/
Reservorios de Enfermedades
/
Portador Sano
/
Leptospira interrogans
/
Leptospirosis
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Animals
País como asunto:
America do sul
/
Brasil
Idioma:
En
Año:
2008
Tipo del documento:
Article