Clinic of Small Animal Medicine, Centre for Clinical Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Veterinaerstrasse 13, 80539, Munich, Germany.
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
BMC Vet Res. 2020 Mar 17;16(1):89. doi: 10.1186/s12917-020-2230-0.
Leptospirosis is a widespread zoonosis and has been recognized as a re-emerging infectious disease in humans and dogs, but prevalence of Leptospira shedding in dogs in Thailand is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine urinary shedding of Leptospira in dogs in Thailand, to evaluate antibody prevalence by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and to assess risk factors for Leptospira infection. In Northern, Northeastern, and Central Thailand, 273 stray (n = 119) or client-owned (n = 154) dogs from rural (n = 139) or urban (n = 134) areas were randomly included. Dogs that had received antibiotics within 4 weeks prior to sampling were excluded. No dog had received vaccination against Leptospira. Urine was evaluated by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) specific for lipL32 gene of pathogenic Leptospira. Additionally, urine was cultured for 6 months in Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-Harris (EMJH) medium. Antibodies were measured by ELISA and MAT against 24 serovars belonging to 15 serogroups and 1 undesignated serogroup. Risk factor analysis was performed with backwards stepwise selection based on Wald.
Twelve of 273 (4.4%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.0-6.8%) urine samples were PCR-positive. In 1/273 dogs (0.4%; 95% CI: 0.01-1.1%) Leptospira could be cultured from urine. MAT detected antibodies in 33/273 dogs (12.1%; 95% CI: 8.2-16.0%) against 19 different serovars (Anhoa, Australis, Ballum, Bataviae, Bratislava, Broomi, Canicola, Copenhageni, Coxi, Grippotyphosa, Haemolytica, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Khorat, Paidjan, Patoc, Pyrogenes, Rachmati, Saxkoebing, Sejroe). In 111/252 dogs (44.0%; 95% CI: 37.9-50.2%) immunoglobulin M (IgM) and/or immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies were found by ELISA. Female dogs had a significantly higher risk for Leptospira infection (p = 0.023).
Leptospira shedding occurs in randomly sampled dogs in Thailand, with infection rates comparable to those of Europe and the USA. Therefore, the potential zoonotic risk should not be underestimated and use of Leptospira vaccines are recommended.
钩端螺旋体病是一种广泛存在的人畜共患病，已被认为是人类和犬类中重新出现的传染病，但泰国犬类钩端螺旋体脱落的流行情况尚不清楚。本研究旨在确定泰国犬类尿液中钩端螺旋体的脱落情况，通过显微镜凝集试验（MAT）和酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）评估抗体流行率，并评估钩端螺旋体感染的危险因素。在泰国北部、东北部和中部，从农村（n=139）和城市（n=134）地区随机纳入 273 只流浪（n=119）或客户拥有的（n=154）犬。在采样前 4 周内接受过抗生素治疗的犬被排除在外。没有狗接种过钩端螺旋体疫苗。通过实时聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测致病性钩端螺旋体的 lipL32 基因来评估尿液。此外，尿液在 Ellinghausen-McCullough-Johnson-Harris（EMJH）培养基中培养 6 个月。通过 ELISA 和 MAT 针对 15 个血清群中的 24 个血清型测量抗体。使用基于 Wald 的逐步向后选择进行危险因素分析。
273 份尿液样本中有 12 份（4.4%；95%置信区间（CI）：2.0-6.8%）PCR 阳性。在 1/273 只狗（0.4%；95%CI：0.01-1.1%）的尿液中可培养出钩端螺旋体。MAT 检测到针对 19 种不同血清型（安霍亚、澳瑞特、巴鲁姆、巴塔维亚、布拉迪斯拉发、布鲁米、坎尼考拉、哥本哈根、科西、格里波塔菲萨、海氏、伊希多拉海拉、科拉特、帕蒂安、帕托、普里根斯、拉奇马蒂、萨克斯科比、塞乔雷）的 33/273 只狗（12.1%；95%CI：8.2-16.0%）的抗体。在 252 只狗中有 111 只（44.0%；95%CI：37.9-50.2%）通过 ELISA 检测到免疫球蛋白 M（IgM）和/或免疫球蛋白 G（IgG）抗体。母犬感染钩端螺旋体的风险显著增加（p=0.023）。
在泰国随机抽样的犬类中存在钩端螺旋体脱落，感染率与欧洲和美国相当。因此，不应低估潜在的人畜共患病风险，建议使用钩端螺旋体疫苗。
