Azhari Nurul Natasya, Ramli Siti Nur Alia, Joseph Narcisse, Philip Noraini, Mustapha Nooreen Farzana, Ishak Siti Nabilah, Mohd-Taib Farah Shafawati, Md Nor Shukor, Yusof Muhammad Afif, Mohd Sah Shahrul Anuar, Mohd Desa Mohd Nasir Bin, Bashiru Garba, Zeppelini Caio Graco, Costa Federico, Sekawi Zamberi, Neela Vasantha Kumari
Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Unit Infectious Disease Control, Selangor State Health Department, Shah-Alam, Selangor, Malaysia.
Acta Trop. 2018 Dec;188:68-77. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2018.08.020. Epub 2018 Aug 23.
Leptospirosis is caused by the spirochetal bacterium Leptospira of which rodents are considered the most important reservoir. This study aims to determine and characterize virulent Leptospira species among rodents and small mammals found in human settlements and recreational spots within the Hulu Langat and Gombak districts of Selangor, Malaysia; regions that frequently report probable human leptospirosis cases. Molecular analysis revealed an overall Leptospira detection rate of 14.3% among the 266 small mammals captured, and the human settlements were found to have the highest number of isolates (15.1%), followed by recreational sites (14.5%). The molecular characterization conducted based on the lipL32, secY genes and MLST revealed that the strains belonged to four different species, including; Leptospira interrogans (29; 76.3%; ST50, ST238, ST243), L. kirschneri (5; 13.15%; ST110), L. borgpetersenii (3; 8%; ST143) and L. weilii (1; 2.63%; ST242). The study revealed genotypes of circulating strains among small mammals in Malaysia, which include Leptospira locus ST110 L. kirschneri, ST 50 L. interrogans, ST143 L. borgpetersenii and ST242 L. weilii. Among the small mammals studied, 17/105 (16.2%) Rattus norvegicus, 7/59 (11.9%) of Rattus rattus, 5/24 (20.8%) of Maxomys whiteheadi, 4/18 (22.2%) of Sundamys muelleri, 2/22 (9%), Tupaia gliss, 2/16 (12.5%) Rattus tiomanicus and 1/4 (25%) of Suncus murinus carried pathogenic leptospires. The data from the present study may imply that, in addition to rodents, other small mammals also serve as maintenance hosts for Leptospira. Hence, much remains unknown about Leptospira maintenance hosts, and there is need for further investigation to ascertain the prevailing serovars of pathogenic Leptospira in Malaysia. This will assist in the development of efficient diagnostic assays with improved microscopic agglutination test (MAT) panels, and in the implementation of suitable prevention and control measures.
钩端螺旋体病由螺旋体细菌钩端螺旋体引起，啮齿动物被认为是其最重要的宿主。本研究旨在确定和表征在马来西亚雪兰莪州 Hulu Langat 和 Gombak 地区的人类住区和休闲场所发现的啮齿动物和小型哺乳动物中的致病性钩端螺旋体种类；这些地区经常报告可能的人类钩端螺旋体病病例。分子分析显示，在捕获的 266 只小型哺乳动物中，钩端螺旋体的总体检出率为 14.3%，人类住区的分离株数量最多（15.1%），其次是休闲场所（14.5%）。基于 lipL32、secY 基因和多位点序列分型（MLST）进行的分子表征表明，这些菌株属于四个不同的物种，包括问号钩端螺旋体（29 株；76.3%；ST50、ST238、ST243）、克氏钩端螺旋体（5 株；13.15%；ST110）、波氏钩端螺旋体（3 株；8%；ST143）和魏氏钩端螺旋体（1 株；2.63%；ST242）。该研究揭示了马来西亚小型哺乳动物中流行菌株的基因型，包括克氏钩端螺旋体 ST110、问号钩端螺旋体 ST50、波氏钩端螺旋体 ST143 和魏氏钩端螺旋体 ST242。在所研究的小型哺乳动物中，17/105（16.2%）的挪威大鼠、7/59（11.9%）的黑家鼠、5/24（20.8%）的白腹鼠、4/18（22.2%）的穆氏沼鼠、2/22（9%）的笔尾树鼩、2/16（12.5%）的蒂奥曼鼠和 1/4（25%）的臭鼩携带致病性钩端螺旋体。本研究的数据可能意味着，除了啮齿动物外，其他小型哺乳动物也作为钩端螺旋体的储存宿主。因此，关于钩端螺旋体的储存宿主仍有许多未知之处，需要进一步调查以确定马来西亚致病性钩端螺旋体的流行血清型。这将有助于开发具有改进的显微镜凝集试验（MAT）板的高效诊断方法，并有助于实施适当的预防和控制措施。
