Yang Tian, Yang Weihong, Kuang Guopeng, Pan Hong, Han Xi, Yang Lifen, Wang Juan, Feng Yun
School of Public Health, Dali University, Dali 671000, China.
Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory for Zoonosis Control and Prevention, Yunnan Institute of Endemic Disease Control and Prevention, Dali 671000, China.
Microorganisms. 2023 Jun 20;11(6):1619. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11061619.
Leptospirosis has been identified as a zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic spirochetes of the bacterial genus . Rodents are considered the primary hosts of these bacteria, whereas many recent studies suggest that bats may serve as potential natural reservoirs. However, studies on pathogenic spirochetes hosted by bat populations still need to be completed in China. In this study, a total of 276 bats belonging to five genera collected in Yunnan Province (Southwest China) from 2017 to 2021 were included in the screening. Pathogenic spirochetes were detected by PCR amplification and sequencing targeting four genes (, , and ), resulting in 17 positive samples. Phylogenetic analysis based on multi-loci concatenated sequences, inferred by MLST approach, identified the strains as two novel species within the pathogenic group. Of note, only was found to harbor these spirochetes, suggesting it may be one of the potential natural reservoirs in circulating leptospires in this region. Nevertheless, the pathogenesis and transmission dynamics still need to be fully understood, requiring in-depth studies on other animals and the surrounding population.
钩端螺旋体病已被确认为由细菌属的致病性螺旋体引起的一种人畜共患病。啮齿动物被认为是这些细菌的主要宿主，而最近的许多研究表明蝙蝠可能是潜在的天然宿主。然而，中国关于蝙蝠种群携带的致病性螺旋体的研究仍有待完成。在本研究中，筛选了2017年至2021年在中国西南部云南省采集的属于五个属的共276只蝙蝠。通过针对四个基因（、、和）的PCR扩增和测序检测致病性螺旋体，得到17个阳性样本。基于多位点串联序列的系统发育分析，通过MLST方法推断，将这些菌株鉴定为致病组内的两个新物种。值得注意的是，仅发现携带这些螺旋体，这表明它可能是该地区循环钩端螺旋体的潜在天然宿主之一。然而，其发病机制和传播动态仍需充分了解，需要对其他动物和周围人群进行深入研究。
