Original scientific paper

The presence of leptospira in coypus (Myocastor coypus) and rats (Rattus norvegicus) living in a protected wetland in Tuscany (Italy).

Filippo Fratini ; Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, Pisa, Italy
Barbara Turchi ; Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, Pisa, Italy
Valentina V. Ebani ; Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, Pisa, Italy
Fabrizio Bertelloni ; Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, Pisa, Italy
Alessia Galiero ; Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, Pisa, Italy
Domenico Cerri ; Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Pisa, Viale delle Piagge, Pisa, Italy

Abstract

From September 2009 to February 2011, 122 coypus (Myocastor coypus) and 74 rats (Rattus norvegicus) were captured employing cage traps in a protected wetland in Tuscany (central Italy). Blood serum samples were collected from the animals and successively examined by the microagglutination test for several serovars of Leptospira: Bratislava, Ballum, Bataviae, Grippothyphosa, Icterohaemorrhagiae, Copenhageni, Mini, Pomona, Zanoni, Sejroe, Hardjo and Tarassovi. Kidney samples were collected from each animal and tested by bacteriological methods and submitted to Polymerase Chain Reaction. Thirty-four (27.87 %) coypu sera were positive to Leptospira interrogans serovar Bratislava, with antibody titers ranging from 1:100 to 1:400; no strain was isolated from coypu by bacteriological examination, while 12 (9.83 %) subjects were positive to PCR. All rats resulted seronegative; thirty-seven (50 %) Leptospira strains were isolated from rat kidneys; 30 were classified as Leptospira interrogans serovar Icterohaemorrhagiae and 7 as Leptospira interrogans serovar Ballum by the cross-agglutination test. Forty-five (60.81 %) rats resulted positive to PCR: 37 subjects positive to bacteriological examination and there were eight from which no strain were isolated from kidneys. These results would seem to suggest the minor zooepidemiological role of coypu in leptospirosis, which is widespread according to literature.

Keywords

Leptospira; rat; coypu; microagglutination test; bacteriological cultures; PCR

Hrčak ID:

145203

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/145203

Publication date:

2.9.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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