Chaiwattanarungruengpaisan Somjit, Thepapichaikul Wasinee, Paungpin Weena, Ketchim Kanokwan, Suwanpakdee Sarin, Thongdee Metawee
The Monitoring and Surveillance Center for Zoonotic Diseases in Wildlife and Exotic Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Mahidol University, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom 73170, Thailand.
Livestock and Wildlife Hospital, Faculty of Veterinary Science, Mahidol University, Sai Yok, Kanchanaburi 71150, Thailand.
Trop Med Infect Dis. 2020 Dec 6;5(4):183. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed5040183.
is the causative agent of leptospirosis, a globally emerging zoonotic disease. The infection is commonly acquired through contact with the contaminated environment. To extend the knowledge on environmental source of leptospirosis, we investigated the presence of in an elephant camp setting where the interaction between humans, animals, and the shared environment occur particularly when engaging in recreational activities. In this study, a total of 24 environmental samples were collected from an elephant camp area in western Thailand. All samples were processed for isolation using the EMJH medium. The identification of species was carried out by partial 16S rRNA and gene sequencing. Of those 24 samples, 18 samples (75%) were culture-positive for . The recovered leptospires were mostly derived from water and soil sampled from a river and a mud pond, the main areas for recreational activities. The majority of the isolates were classified into "Pathogens" clade (89%, 16/18) and more than half of the isolates (61%, 11/18) contained species of the "Saprophytes" clade. Notably, two soil isolates from the river beach sampling area were found to contain leptospiral DNA with high similarity to the pathogenic and . The evidence of diverse species, particularly those belonging to the "Pathogens" clade, suggest that the shared environments of an elephant camp can serve as potential infection source and may pose a risk to the elephant camp tourists and workers.
是钩端螺旋体病的病原体，这是一种在全球范围内新出现的人畜共患病。感染通常通过接触受污染的环境获得。为了扩展关于钩端螺旋体病环境来源的知识，我们在一个大象营地环境中调查了 的存在情况，在这个环境中，人类、动物和共享环境之间的相互作用尤其在进行娱乐活动时发生。在本研究中，从泰国西部的一个大象营地地区共采集了24份环境样本。所有样本均使用EMJH培养基进行 分离处理。通过部分16S rRNA和 基因测序对 物种进行鉴定。在这24个样本中，18个样本（75%）培养出 呈阳性。回收的钩端螺旋体大多来自从河流和泥塘采集的水和土壤样本，这些是娱乐活动的主要区域。大多数分离株被归类为“病原体”进化枝（89%，16/18），超过一半的分离株（61%，11/18）包含“腐生菌”进化枝的物种。值得注意的是，从河滩采样区的两个土壤分离株中发现含有与致病性 和 高度相似的钩端螺旋体DNA。多种 物种的证据，特别是那些属于“病原体”进化枝的物种，表明大象营地的共享环境可能是潜在的感染源，可能对大象营地的游客和工作人员构成风险。
