title: Leptospira Serovars for Diagnosis of Leptospirosis in Humans and Animals in Africa: Common Leptospira Isolates and Reservoir Hosts.
abstract: The burden of leptospirosis in humans and animals in Africa is higher than that reported from other parts of the world. However, the disease is not routinely diagnosed in the continent. One of major factors limiting diagnosis is the poor availability of live isolates of locally circulating Leptospira serovars for inclusion in the antigen panel of the gold standard microscopic agglutination test (MAT) for detecting antibodies against leptospirosis. To gain insight in Leptospira serovars and their natural hosts occurring in Tanzania, concomitantly enabling the improvement of the MAT by inclusion of fresh local isolates, a total of 52 Leptospira isolates were obtained from fresh urine and kidney homogenates, collected between 1996 and 2006 from small mammals, cattle and pigs. Isolates were identified by serogrouping, cross agglutination absorption test (CAAT), and molecular typing. Common Leptospira serovars with their respective animal hosts were: Sokoine (cattle and rodents); Kenya (rodents and shrews); Mwogolo (rodents); Lora (rodents); Qunjian (rodent); serogroup Grippotyphosa (cattle); and an unknown serogroup from pigs. Inclusion of local serovars particularly serovar Sokoine in MAT revealed a 10-fold increase in leptospirosis prevalence in Tanzania from 1.9% to 16.9% in rodents and 0.26% to 10.75% in humans. This indicates that local serovars are useful for diagnosis of human and animal leptospirosis in Tanzania and other African countries.
authors.affiliation: Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Georgies F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Mgode
authors.affiliation: Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Machang'u
authors.affiliation: Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Ginethon G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Mhamphi
authors.affiliation: Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katakweba
authors.affiliation: Pest Management Centre, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Loth S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Mulungu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lies
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Durnez
authors.affiliation: Evolutionary Ecology Group, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Herwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Leirs
authors.affiliation: Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), KIT Biomedical Research, WHO/FAO/OIE and National Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Leptospirosis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rudy A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hartskeerl
authors.affiliation: Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Belmain
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000382:microbiology; D007919:Leptospira / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D008322:Mammals; D058889:Molecular Typing; D015995:Prevalence; D065288:Serogroup; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial