Abstract
Canine leptospirosis was suspected in 11 dogs in Osaka Prefecture, Japan and 9 dogs died within a month, from October 12 to November 10, 2017. Eight of the dogs had been taken on walks along the same riverbed and 4 dogs lived in the same town. Logistic regression analysis between a comparative group and the incident cases group showed that the odds of leptospirosis infection was 13.3 times higher (p = 0.044) in the dogs taken on walks along the riverbed than in the dogs not being walked along the riverbed. It is suggesting that these walks had been a risk factor. Microscopic agglutination tests showed that antibody titers against Leptospira interrogans serovar Australis were 1:2,560 and 1:10,240 in 2 dogs. Therefore, L. interrogans serovar Australis was suspected to be the causative agent, for which no canine vaccine is available in Japan. These results suggested that L. interrogans serovar Australis can cause local outbreaks. The development of a canine vaccine against various serotypes might help reduce local infections. Leptospirosis is an important infectious disease of dogs and it is also a zoonotic disease.
Highlights
Leptospirosis is a common zoonotic disease caused by infection with the bacterium Leptospira interrogans, which has 24 serogroups and more than 250 known serovars [1,2,3,4]
In October and November 2017, there was a series of notifications of suspected cases of canine leptospirosis based on the Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control in Osaka Prefecture, Japan
Eleven dogs with suspected canine leptospirosis, another eight dogs were included as a comparative group that were brought to the hospital for vaccination or other symptoms not characteristic for leptospirosis, such as skin diseases
Summary
Leptospirosis is a common zoonotic disease caused by infection with the bacterium Leptospira interrogans, which has 24 serogroups and more than 250 known serovars [1,2,3,4]. The Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control requires veterinarians to report dogs infected with L. interrogans serovars Pomona, Canicola, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Autumnalis, and Australis, L. kirschneri serovar Grippotyphosa, and L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo, as well as suspected cases. In October and November 2017, there was a series of notifications of suspected cases of canine leptospirosis based on the Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. An overview of these canine leptospirosis outbreak cases was previously reported [5]. The aim of this study was to further analyze the outbreak and estimate the risk factors for infection
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