High Diversity of Leptospira Species Infecting Bats Captured in the Urabá Region (Antioquia-Colombia).

Fernando P Monroy,Juan Álvaro Lopez,Piedad Agudelo-Flórez,Sergio Solari,Ronald Guillermo Peláez Sánchez

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9091897

Fernando P Monroy, Juan Álvaro Lopez + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9091897

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Abstract

Leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic bacteria of the genus Leptospira. This zoonotic disease affects humans, domestic animals and wild animals. Colombia is considered an endemic country for leptospirosis; Antioquia is the second department in Colombia, with the highest number of reported leptospirosis cases. Currently, many studies report bats as reservoirs of Leptospira spp. but the prevalence in these mammals is unknown. The goal of this study was to better understand the role of bats as reservoir hosts of Leptospira species and to evaluate the genetic diversity of circulating Leptospira species in Antioquia-Colombia. We captured 206 bats in the municipalities of Chigorodó (43 bats), Carepa (43 bats), Apartadó (39 bats), Turbo (40 bats), and Necoclí (41 bats) in the Urabá region (Antioquia-Colombia). Twenty bats tested positive for Leptospira spp. infection (20/206—9.70%) and the species of infected bats were Carollia perspicillata, Dermanura rava, Glossophaga soricina, Molossus molossus, Artibeus planirostris, and Uroderma convexum. These species have different feeding strategies such as frugivorous, insectivores, and nectarivores. The infecting Leptospira species identified were Leptospira borgpetersenii (3/20–15%), Leptospira alexanderi (2/20–10%), Leptospira noguchii (6/20–30%), Leptospira interrogans (3/20–15%), and Leptospira kirschneri (6/20–30%). Our results showed the importance of bats in the epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of Leptospira in this host-pathogen association. This is the first step in deciphering the role played by bats in the epidemiology of human leptospirosis in the endemic region of Urabá (Antioquia-Colombia).

Highlights

Leptospirosis is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic bacteria of the genus Leptospira [1]
About 65 genomic Leptospira species have been identified (NCBI database: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome [accessed on 30 April 2021]), which are subdivided into four main clades according to the phylogenetic analysis of 1371 conserved genes: pathogens (P1), pathogens (P2), saprophytes (S1), and saprophytes (S2) [4,5]
Neotropical bat species are not known to hibernate, that ability could favor the continuous maintenance of the bacteria in the host

Summary

Introduction

Leptospirosis is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic bacteria of the genus Leptospira [1]. 58,900 deaths occur due to leptospirosis worldwide annually [2]. Leptospirosis is considered a neglected disease, found mainly in the tropical regions of developing countries [3]. Is recognized as an emerging infectious disease due to large outbreaks in different regions of the world, which are associated with environmental disasters, and extreme climate change. Severe forms of the disease, such as Weil’s disease and pulmonary hemorrhage syndrome have emerged as the leading cause of death [4]. Through serological classification about 300 Leptospira serovars have been described, which are grouped into approximately 30 serogroups and about 200 of these serovars have been

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