title: Prevalence of Leptospira spp. in wild brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) on UK farms.
abstract: Wild brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) are frequently implicated in the carriage and spread of Leptospira spp. Wild brown rats (n = 259) were trapped from 11 UK farms and tested for Leptospira spp. using a number of diagnostic tests. The prevalence of leptospiral infection was low, but there was variation in the results obtained with the different diagnostic tests. Estimates of prevalence ranged between 0% by silver-staining of tissues, 1% by the microscopic agglutination test, 4% by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, 4% by culture, and 8% by fluorescent antibody technique. In total, 37 (14%) rats were positive by at least one of the tests, which contrasts with the frequently reported prevalences of 50-70% for wild rats in the UK. Serovar bratislava was a prevalent as icterohaemorrhagiae, although it was present only on farms with larger rat populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Oxford.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Macdonald
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000382:microbiology; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D007919:Leptospira / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D051381:Rats / Q000382:microbiology*; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial