Abstract
Leptospirosis is a disease of worldwide importance, both from a veterinarian and a public health point of view. Serological survey through the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) is the standard to diagnose and assess the disease´s distribution in a population. Stray dogs are important urban reservoirs of leptospirosis and studies regarding their seroreactivity in Brazil are few and far apart. This work reports the seroreactivity of stray dogs to the most important serogroups in the Leptospira genus causing urban leptospirosis in dogs and humans in Pelotas, Brazil: Icterohaemorrhagiae and Canicola. All the animals used in this study were female stray dogs, no distinction regarding age or race was made. Blood samples were collected from 221 animals. The MAT was carried out according to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO). Of the 221 tested animals, 64 were positive for agglutinating antibodies, representing a prevalence of 29%. These results are in accordance with those reported for housed dogs in Pelotas in previous studies. This study represents an important epidemiological update for the leptospirosis scenario in southern Brazil. Furthermore, these reports will aid healthcare agents in controlling both canine and human leptospirosis in the region.
Highlights
Leptospirosis is a disease of worldwide importance, both from a veterinarian and a public health point of view
Chronic cases may lead to asymptomatic carrier animals, which may shed the bacteria in the environment for several months undetected (Furlanello et al, 2020)
Leptospirosis is maintained in the environment by these susceptible reservoir hosts, species that are adapted to determined serogroups, of which they rarely suffer the severe disease, becoming renal carriers and chronic shedders of the bacteria in the environment (André-Fontaine et al, 2018)
Summary
Leptospirosis is a disease of worldwide importance, both from a veterinarian and a public health point of view (Ellis, 2015). It is a considered a cosmopolite disease, it has grater prevalence in underdeveloped and developing countries, mainly due to environmental factors, climate, and susceptible host diversity, both domestic and wild (Adler, 2015). Leptospirosis is maintained in the environment by these susceptible reservoir hosts, species that are adapted to determined serogroups, of which they rarely suffer the severe disease, becoming renal carriers and chronic shedders of the bacteria in the environment (André-Fontaine et al, 2018). Studies have revealed that dogs are a significant risk factor for human leptospirosis (Ricardo et al, 2020, Silva et al, 2017)
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