Seroprevalence of leptospirosis in animals and human beings in various regions of the country
Abstract
Seroprevalence of leptospirosis was investigated in animals and human beings using sera collected from various states of the country during a period of 10 years beginning 1990. Most of these animals were reported to have suffered with fever, jaundice, abortions, repeat breeding etc. A total of 4992 sera collected from domestic animal (4348), wild animals (112) and human beings (532) were subjected to microscopic agglutination test, using a panel of 18 Leptospira antigens. Of the domestic animals sera tested, 2601 belonged to cattle and 15.8% of these were positive to various Leptospira serovars. Maximum positivity was detected in sera received from A.P. and Gujarat. A total of 414 buffalo sera from A.P. were subjected to the study and of these only 2.8% were positive, whereas none from TN (19) was positive. Similarly, a total of 271 goat, 551 sheep, 756 equine, 204 dog and 166 swine sera received from various states were tested and 14.3%, 15.2%, 9.9% and 9.0%, respectively, were positive. Most of the sheep, dog and swine sera belonged to A.P. Wild animal sera belonged to Sambhar, Cheetal, Tiger and Elephant and 14 (12.5%) were positive. A total of 78 (14.6%) human sera mostly belonging to Maharastra possessed diagnostic antibody levels. Leptospira serovars responsible for sero-positivity among most of the animals and man were identified as Icterohaemorrhagiae, Hardjo, Patoc, Australis, Canicola, Grippotyphosa, Pyrogenes, Pomona, Tarasovi and Ballum. The study indicated a high level of the prevalence of leptospirosis in animals and man warranting continuous investigations in order to suggest control strategies in the future.
