Leptospirosis prevalence and risk factors in India: Evidence gap maps

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease of public health importance in India. A country-level evidence gap map was developed to identify gaps on epidemiology of leptospirosis. It is the first such on leptospirosis globally and on any single disease condition in India. The steps for development of evidence gap map were development of a framework to map evidence, retrieval of evidence, data extraction parameters and mapping of available evidence in evidence gap map framework. The prevalence evidence gap map consisted of 157 studies (102 in humans, 55 in animals, and 12 in both). The evidence gap map on risk factors had 120 studies (102 in humans, 11 in animals and 7 in both). There were inter-state differences in availability of research and disparity between animal and human research. Research on high-risk groups was limited and studies did not use the One Health approach to identify epidemiology, which can help understand the issue more comprehensively. The study demonstrates the potential of evidence gap maps to inform research priorities.