Neglected leptospirosis in raccoons (Procyon lotor) in Indiana, USA.
BACKGROUND
Leptospirosis is a globally important zoonotic disease occurring clinically and subclinically in humans and animals.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether raccoons in Indiana carried leptospires in their kidneys.


METHODS
Thirty-four raccoons were live-trapped from two forest patches in central Indiana. Following euthanasia, a portion of kidney (2 cm(2)) from each raccoon was homogenized and used for leptospiral culture. Leptospiral cultures were subjected to DNA extraction and various polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedures reported previously. Serum sample from each raccoon was collected and antibody titers to leptospiral serovars were determined by microscopic agglutination test (MAT).


RESULTS
All leptospiral cultures were positive for Leptospira by various PCR procedures. The PCR with the primers targeting the conservative region of LipL32 gene was the most sensitive PCR in the detection of pathogenic leptospires. The variable LipL32 PCR amplicons were sequenced and compared to the reference strains available in GenBank. Twelve kidney cultures had Leptospira interrogans, eight had Leptospira kirschneri and two had Leptospira borgpetersenii. They were predominantly Grippotyphosa serogroup. Antileptospire antibodies were detected in 16 out of 34 raccoons (47.1%) by MAT. There were titers ≥ 1:80 in 16 raccoons (47.1%) and titers ≥ 1:400 in 3 raccoons (8.8%). The highest leptospiral serovar-specific seroreactivity among 34 raccoons was L. interrogans Bratislava (38.2%) and L. interrogans Grippotyphosa (32.4%).


CONCLUSIONS
Raccoons in Indiana carry leptospiral organisms in kidneys and the leptospires are predominantly L. interrogans species and of the Grippotyphosa serogroup.


CONCLUSIONS
The raccoons serve as reservoir hosts that exposure sources to wildlife, livestock, pets and humans.
a Department of Comparative Pathobiology , Purdue University , West Lafayette , IN 47907 , USA.
Ching Giap
CG
Tan
Guha
G
Dharmarajan
James
J
Beasley
Olin
O
Rhodes
George
G
Moore
Ching Ching
CC
Wu
Tsang Long
TL
Lin
D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000662:veterinary; D000818:Animals; D007196:Indiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D007668:Kidney / Q000382:microbiology; D007919:Leptospira / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D015995:Prevalence; D045988:Procyonidae; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000662:veterinary
Procyon lotor; kidney; leptospira; public health; raccoon