title: Epizootiological survey of small mammals as Leptospira spp. reservoirs in Eastern Croatia.
abstract: In this survey we investigated a population of small mammals in Eastern Croatia in order to determine Leptospira carriage rates and identify circulating serovars. Out of 67 trapped animals, 20 (29.9%) isolates were obtained. Identification of isolates using microscopic agglutination test, pulsed field gel electrophoresis and multi locus sequence typing revealed that 10 (50.0%) isolates belong to serogroup Pomona, serovar Mozdok, 6 (30.0%) isolates to serogroup Australis, serovar Jalna, 2 (10.0%) isolates to serogroup Sejroe, serovar Saxkoebing, and 1 (5.0%) isolate to serogroup Grippotyphosa, serovar Grippotyphosa. One isolate from serogroup Bataviae was unable to be identified to the serovar level. Amplification of a 331-bp region of the locus LA0322 using real-time polymerase chain reaction determined that 12 (60.0%) isolates belong to L. kirschneri, 6 (30.0%) isolates to L. interrogans, and 2 (10.0%) isolates to L. borgpetersenii. Leptospira carriage rate was high (29.9%), which corresponds to a high incidence of human and domestic animal leptospirosis in Eastern Croatia. Furthermore, 90.0% of the isolates belong to serogroups Pomona, Australis and Sejroe which are also the most prevalent serogroups in humans in this area. These findings suggest that small mammals might be an important source of Leptospira spp. infection in Eastern Croatia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases with Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Electronic address: zstritof@vef.hr.
authors.forename: Zrinka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Stritof Majetic
authors.affiliation: Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States.
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galloway
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ruzic Sabljic
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases with Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Milas
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases with Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Vesna
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mojcec Perko
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases with Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Josipa
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Habus
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Protections and Game, Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Josip
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Margaletic
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Protections and Game, Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pernar
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases with Clinic, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Nenad
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Turk
mesh_terms: D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000818:Animals; D017523:Croatia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000382:microbiology; D007919:Leptospira / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D012376:Rodent Diseases; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology*; D012703:Serotyping; D015047:Zoonoses
keywords: Leptospira; Leptospirosis; Molecular; Reservoirs; Small mammals; Zoonosis