title: Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in Korean municipal zoo animals.
abstract: From 2002 to 2005, we collected 118 serum samples from 34 species belonging to 13 families of zoo animals in Korea and determined the prevalence of antibodies for 18 serovars of Leptospira spp. using the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Twenty-nine (25%) of the serum samples tested were positive for one or more of the serovars. There were no significant differences in relation to genders: 23% and 26% of positives occurring in male and female animals, respectively (P>0.05). However, the seroprevalence for the Leptospira spp. was significantly higher (P<0.05) in herbivores (45%) than in either carnivores (17%) or omnivores (17%). Among the 5 serovars detected in this study, the most common was sejroe (n=27; 87% of all positive reactions). All positive reactions showed low titers (< or = 1:200) and the positives were most frequently detected in 1:25 (58%) and 1:50 (23%) serum dilutions. The highest antibody titer (1:200) was observed for the serovars sejroe (n=1) and bratislava (n=1). We conclude that the exposure of zoo animals to Leptospira spp. is relatively common in Korea and produces low MAT titers, with sejroe being the most commonly encountered serovar.
authors.affiliation: Animal Disease Diagnosis Division, National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service, Anyang City, Kyunggi Do, Korea. jungby@nvrqs.go.kr
authors.forename: Byeong Yeal
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Jeong Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kyoo Tae
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Yun Kyung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Su Hwa
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyung Woo
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ji Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Oun Kyoung
authors.initials: OK
authors.lastname: Moon
mesh_terms: D000820:Animal Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000382:microbiology*; D007723:Korea; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies