A serosurvey for antibodies to Leptospira in dogs in the lower North Island of New Zealand.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of antibodies to endemic and exotic Leptospira serovars in samples from a serum bank, collected from dogs in the lower North Island of New Zealand.


METHODS
Sera (n=466), which had been collected from apparently healthy dogs, were screened using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) for antibodies to serovars L. borgpeterseni serovar hardjo, L. interrogans serovars pomona, copenhageni and canicola, and L. kirschneri serovar grippotyphosa.


RESULTS
Antibody to Leptospiral antigen was found in 14.2% of dogs tested. The highest level of reactivity was with serovar copenhageni, to which 9.5% (41/433) of sera were positive. Antibodies to serovars grippotyphosa and canicola were not detected in this population of dogs.


CONCLUSIONS
Leptospira infection is relatively common in dogs in the lower North Island .


CONCLUSIONS
Vaccination of dogs against leptospirosis should be considered using vaccine containing antigen to serovars hardjo, pomona and copenhageni. The presence of moderate levels of copenhageni antibody in dogs in the lower North Island raises the possibility that this serovar has become established in rodent populations in this region.
O'Keefe
J S
JS
National Centre for Disease Investigation, PO Box 40-742, Upper Hutt, New Zealand. okeefej@maf.govt.nz
Jenner
J A
JA
Sandifer
N C
NC
Antony
A
A
Williamson
N B
NB