Insight into the Epidemiology of Leptospirosis: A Review of Isolations from "Unconventional" Hosts

Overview

Journal Animals (Basel)

Date 2021 Jan 20

PMID 33466962

Citations 26

Authors

Giovanni Cilia

Fabrizio Bertelloni

Sara Albini

Filippo Fratini

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a re-emerging worldwide zoonotic disease. Even though the primary serological test for diagnosis and surveying is the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), isolation remains the gold-standard test to detect infections. The leptospirosis transmission is linked to maintenance and accidental hosts. In the epidemiology of some serovar are strictly related to specific maintenance hosts; however, in recent years, the bacterium was isolated from an even wider spectrum of species. The aim of this review is to report the isolation of strains in animals which could be recognized as "unconventional" hosts, analyzing studies from 1960 to 2020 that highlighted the isolation. This scientific literature aimed to provide evidence of infection in several animal species including of the Carnivora, Didelphimorphia, Rodentia, Cetacea, Cingulata, Afrosoricida, Chiroptera and Primate orders, as well as in Reptilia and Amphibia classes. In conclusion, the spreading of is attention-worthy because the infection could occur in all the animal species ranging in a specific area. Further screening and isolations are needed to collect all necessary data to gain a complete understanding of leptospirosis epidemiology and its modifications.

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