Abstract
Introduction: Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira spp. Leptospirosis is maintained in an environment due to chronic kidney infection of a wide variety of domestic, peridomestic and wild reservoir mammals. In this study the role of pigs in maintenance of leptospires on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts was investigated. Methodology: The condemned kidneys of 60 pigs slaughtered at a St. Kitts abattoir were screened by a quantitative-PCR for the presence of Leptospira spp. Positive samples were genotyped using a six-gene based multilocus sequence typing scheme. Results: Leptospiral DNA was detected in the kidneys of one of the 60 pigs. Multilocus sequence typing identified the infecting species to be L. interrogans. Conclusions: Detection of this zoonotic pathogen in the kidneys of a seemingly healthy pig raises concerns regarding the subclinical carriers of the disease among the island’s swine population.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 530-532 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Journal of Infection in Developing Countries |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Genotyping
- Leptospira
- Leptospirosis
- Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST)
- Swine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Parasitology
- Microbiology
- Infectious Diseases
- Virology