Laboratório de Imunologia e Biologia Molecular, Instituto de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia State, 40110-100, Brazil.
Escola de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia State, 40170-100, Brazil.
Acta Trop. 2020 Sep;209:105572. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2020.105572. Epub 2020 Jun 3.
Leptospirosis, a disease that occurs worldwide, especially in tropical regions, is caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira and affects mammals, amphibians, and reptiles. Boa constrictor snakes are commonly found in Atlantic rainforest fragments in peri‑urban areas, which indicates a greater possibility of the contact of these animals with humans residing there. Therefore, the aim of this work was to detect Leptospira spp infection through molecular assays in wild B. constrictor snakes rescued in peri‑urban areas and verify seroreactivity, by the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), as well as the most common serogroups. Among the 46 samples tested, 7 (15.21%) were positive according to PCR and confirmed as Leptospira interrogans through secY gene sequencing. In MAT, 37 (80.43%) of the 46 samples were classified as reactive. Panama was the serogroup with the highest occurrence. The results showed the presence of Leptospira spp DNA in asymptomatic snakes rescued in rainforest fragments located in peri‑urban areas and support further investigations on the influence of these animals in the epidemiology of leptospirosis in tropical peri‑urban areas.
钩端螺旋体病是一种全球性疾病，尤其在热带地区较为常见，由钩端螺旋体属细菌引起，影响哺乳动物、两栖动物和爬行动物。在城市周边的大西洋雨林碎片中，经常可以发现王蛇，这表明这些动物与居住在那里的人类接触的可能性更大。因此，这项工作的目的是通过分子检测在城市周边地区获救的野生王蛇中检测钩端螺旋体属感染，并通过显微镜凝集试验（MAT）检测血清反应性以及最常见的血清群。在检测的 46 个样本中，7 个（15.21%）根据 PCR 呈阳性，并通过 secY 基因测序证实为问号钩端螺旋体。在 MAT 中，46 个样本中有 37 个（80.43%）被归类为反应性。巴拿马是血清群发生率最高的。结果表明，在位于城市周边的雨林碎片中获救的无症状蛇中存在钩端螺旋体属 DNA，并支持对这些动物在热带城市周边地区钩端螺旋体病流行病学中的影响进行进一步调查。
