Genetic characteristics of pathogenic < i > Leptospira < /i > in wild small animals and livestock in Jiangxi Province, China, 2002 –2015

In this study, among a total of 3,531 trapped rodents dominated byApodemus agrarius (59.7%), 330Leptospira strains were successfully isolated from six different sites in Jiangxi between 2002 and 2015. Adding 71 local strains from humans, various kinds of livestock and wild animals in Jiangxi, a total of 401 epidemic strains were characterized using 16S rRNA gene senquencing, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and the microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Among them, the most prevalent serogroup was Icterohaemorrhagiae (61.10%), followed by Javanica (19.20%) and Australis (9.73%); the remaining five serogroups, Canicola, Autumnalis, Grippotyphosa, Hebdomadis and Pomona, accounted for 9.97%. Species identification revealed that 325 wereL.interrogans and 76 wereL.borgpetersenii. Moreover,L.interrogans was the only pathogenic species in Fuliang and Shanggao and was predominant in Shangrao (95.0%);L.borgpetersenii was the most common in the remaining three sites. Twenty-one sequence types (STs) were identified. Similarly, ST1 and serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae were most prevalent in Shangrao (86.0% and 86.4%) and Fuliang (90.4% and 90.4%), ST143 and serogroup Javanica in Shangyou (88.5% and 90.4%) and Longnan (73.1% and 73.1%), and ST105 and serogroup Australis in Shanggao (46.3% and 56.1%). Serogroup Icterohaemorhagiae primarily linked toA.agrarius (86.9%), serogroup Canicola to dogs (83.3%). There were significant differences in the distribution of leptospiral species/serogroups/S...
Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research