The roles of innate immune responses in protection from or pathogenesis of severe leptospirosis remain unclear. We examined the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in mouse infection and macrophage responses to Leptospira. C3H/HeJ mice (TLR4 deficient) and C3H/HeJ-SCID mice, but not C3H/OuJ mice (TLR4 intact), died after intraperitoneal infection with Leptospira interrogans serovar Icterohaemorr...

BACKGROUND Although previous data indicate that the overall incidence of human leptospirosis in the Peruvian Amazon is similar in urban and rural sites, severe leptospirosis has been observed only in the urban context. As a potential explanation for this epidemiological observation, we tested the hypothesis that concentrations of more virulent Leptospira would be higher in urban than in rural e...

OBJECTIVE To identify and type three leptospires isolated from Rattus tanezumi in Guizhou Province by using three molecular techniques (PFGE, MLVA, and MLST), reveal the molecular characteristic of causative agents of local leptospirosis and evaluate these three molecular methods based on their detection resolution and efficiency. METHODS Three Leptospira strains were isolated from the kidney...

BACKGROUND Leptospirosis is an important re-emerging infectious disease that affects humans worldwide. Infection occurs from indirect environment-mediated exposure to pathogenic leptospires through contaminated watered environments. The ability of pathogenic leptospires to persist in the aqueous environment is a key factor in transmission to new hosts. Hence, an effort was made to detect pathog...

We have developed a rapid method for the isolation of leptospiral chromosomal DNA which yields DNA of a purity suitable for restriction endonuclease analysis. A small volume (15 to 20 ml) of an exponentially growing culture of leptospires yielded 2 to 4 micrograms of chromosomal DNA. In a 1-day protocol, the DNA was isolated, restricted with endonucleases, and fractionated on an agarose gel. Ch...

Background: Most leptospiral infections in sheep and goat are asymptomatic but may result in high fever, abortion, stillbirth, agalactiae. There is a different foraging behavior between sheep and goat that may cause the different prevalence of Leptospira interrogans infection in sheep and goats. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to compare the prevalence of L. interrogans antibod...

A number of surface proteins specific to pathogenic strains of Leptospira have been identified. The Lig protein family has shown promise as a marker in typing leptospiral isolates for pathogenesis and as an antigen in vaccines. We used NMR spectroscopy to solve the solution structure of the twelfth immunoglobulin-like (Ig-like) repeat domain from LigB (LigB-12). The fold is similar to that of o...

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic spirochetes of the Leptospira genus. Vaccination with bacterins has severe limitations. Here, we evaluated the N-terminal region of the leptospiral immunoglobulin-like B protein (LigBrep) as a vaccine candidate against leptospirosis using immunisation strategies based on DNA prime-protein boost, DNA vaccine, and subunit vaccine. Upon chal...