title: Prevalence and carrier status of leptospirosis in smallholder dairy cattle and peridomestic rodents in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
abstract: Leptospirosis is an important bacterial zoonotic disease globally and one of the notifiable diseases in Sri Lanka. Other than human leptospirosis, little information is available on leptospirosis in domestic and feral animals in Sri Lanka. Thus, this study attempted to determine the prevalence and carrier status of leptospirosis in smallholder dairy cattle and peridomestic rodents to understand the impact of the disease on public health in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Cattle and rodent samples were collected from the Yatinuwara and Udunuwara divisional secretaries in Kandy. Serum samples were analyzed for the presence of antileptospiral antibodies using microscopic agglutination test. DNA was extracted from cattle urine and rodent kidney tissue samples, in which polymerase chain reaction was carried out to detect the Leptospira flaB gene. The cattle in 19 (38.8%) of the 49 farms harbored antileptospiral antibodies. Out of 113 cattle serum samples, 23 (20.3%) were positive; 17 (73.9%) and 6 (26.1%) reacted with serogroups Sejroe and Hebdomadis, respectively. Out of the 74 rodent samples, 13 (17.5%) were positive; 8 (61.5%) and 4 (30.8%) had reactions to serogroups Javanica and Icterohaemorrhagiae, respectively. Leptospiral DNA was detected in one cattle urine sample and identified as Leptospira interrogans. This study revealed a high prevalence of leptospirosis in cattle and rodents in Kandy. These animals were infected with a wide array of leptospiral serogroups, which are consistent with the research findings observed in humans in Kandy. Overall, serological data indicate that relative to rodents, cattle may be a more significant reservoir for human transmission and a greater source of potential risk to local agricultural communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health and Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
authors.forename: Chandika D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Gamage
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koizumi
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muto
authors.forename: Chinyere
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nwafor-Okoli
authors.forename: Shanika
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kurukurusuriya
authors.forename: Jayanthe R P V
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rajapakse
authors.forename: Senanayake A M
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kularatne
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanda
authors.forename: Romeo B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yoshihide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Obayashi
authors.forename: Haruo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Hiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamashiro
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D002353:Carrier State; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D007921:Leptospira interrogans / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D012377:Rodentia / Q000097:blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D013188:Sri Lanka / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial