Leptospira borgpetersenii from free-living white-eared opossum (Didelphis albiventris): first isolation in Brazil.
Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease that occurs all over the world, caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira. Marsupial and didelphidae families are considered susceptible to infection caused by a wide range of Leptospira serovars for which they serve as reservoirs. Thirty-three free-living white-eared opossums (Didelphis albiventris) were captured in Southern Brazil and bodily fluids were collected. From the urine samples it was possible to obtain an isolate identified as Leptospira borgpetersenii by rpoB gene sequencing and belonging to serovar Castellonis by Multilocus Variable-Number Tandem-Repeat Analysis. This is the first report of the isolation of Leptospira spp. from the white-eared opossum in Brazil. In addition, the new strain was also virulent in the hamster model of lethal leptospirosis. The microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was used for detecting the presence of antibodies against Leptospira spp. in white-eared opossum, human, cattle and canine sera using a panel of 59 Leptospira strains that included the new isolate. The inclusion of the new strain in the MAT battery increased the MAT sensitivity for canine sera. These findings suggest that the white-eared opossum is an important reservoir of pathogenic Leptospira spp.
Centro de Controle de Zoonoses, Departamento de Veterinária Preventiva, Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
Sérgio
S
Jorge
Cláudia P
CP
Hartleben
Fabiana K
FK
Seixas
Marco A A
MA
Coimbra
Cledir B
CB
Stark
Adriana G
AG
Larrondo
Marta G
MG
Amaral
Ana Paula N
AP
Albano
Luiz F
LF
Minello
Odir A
OA
Dellagostin
Claudiomar S
CS
Brod
D000825:Animal Structures / Q000473:pathology; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D006224:Cricetinae; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics; D048293:Didelphis / Q000382:microbiology*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D007919:Leptospira / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008853:Microscopy; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D058889:Molecular Typing; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology
D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases; C105078:RNA polymerase beta subunit