A survey of leptospirological studies carried out on the Cape Verde Islands.

The authors subjected 611 human sera, 1295 sera of domestic and 211 sera of wild living animals from two islands of the Cape Verde archipelago to serological tests for leptospirosis. Among the human sera 7.2% reacted positively. Antibodies to L. bratislava of the serogroup Australis were most frequent (59.1% of all positive sera). Antibodies to L. icterohaemorrhagiae were found in 1.3% of the sera tested, to L. sejroe in 1.1%, to L. canicola in 0.7%, to L. pyrogenes in 0.3% and to L. pomona, L. bulgarica and L. grippotyphosa in 0.2% each. The existence of natural foci of leptospiroses could not be proved since tests of 211 wild-living mammals were all negative. The investigation of domestic animal sera showed a positivity of 3.1% with goats being positive most frequently (85% of all positive sera), followed by donkeys with 3.3% and cattle with 2.0%. Sera of dogs, sheep and pigs were all negative. The results indicate that anthropurgic foci exist on the Cape Verde Islands.