INTRODUCTION The aim of the study was to compare haemoglobin and red cell counts between patients known to be infected with a range of leptospiral serovars. METHODS The study retrospectively compared the haemoglobin and red cell count results from the first blood samples taken from 207 patients at presentation to a Queensland Health hospital. RESULTS Significant differences were observed in...

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic infection causing clinical and subclinical disease in dogs, humans, and other mammalian species. Although more than 200 different Leptospira interrogans serovars have been identified (11), the serovars most commonly isolated from dogs with clinical leptospirosis in Southern Germany are L. grippothyphosa and L. saxkoebing (3). However, vaccines currently available in ...

General Introduction Leptospirosis is an economically important zoonotic bacterial infection of livestock that causes abortions, stillbirths, infertility, and loss of milk production. The disease occurs worldwide and is caused by infection with the spirochete Leptospira. The pathogenic leptospires were formerly classified as members of the species Leptospira interrogans; the genus has recently ...

Laboratory diagnosis of human leptospirosis usually relies on indirect methods exploring specific immune response. Isolation and identification of the involved strains are cumbersome, but can provide biological resources for pathogenic studies and relevant information for guiding prevention and control measures. The aim of the research we are hereby reporting was the characterization of Leptosp...

Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis caused by Leptospira interrogans which include all pathogenic strains of the Genus Leptospira. The serological classification of the members of Leptospira interrogans distinguishes more than 200 serovars which have traditionally been grouped into serogroups according to their antigenic relation [16]. After natural infection with Leptospira, the spectrum of ...

To the Editor: Herrmann-Storck et al. (1) investigated prognostic factors of leptospirosis and concluded that infection with Leptospira interrogans serovar Icterohemorrhagiae was linked to severe outcomes. We have concerns about this conclusion. These researchers were comparing clinical severity of disease among patients for whom serovars of infecting isolates had been identifi ed. However, in ...

Leptospirosis is endemic in Malaysia with Leptospira species extensively isolated from domestic and wild animals. Rats were found to be the principal maintenance hosts followed by cattle, pigs, and dogs. The objectives of this study were to isolate and identify Leptospira serovars circulating among swine from three different farms and also from stray dogs and cats from Klang valley, Selangor, M...

In the year 2000, three hundred and eighty-one animals werw caught in 11 locations in the pedunculate oak forests extending across the wider region of the Sava River valley, an area known as an old natural focus of leptospires. Two hundred and twenty-seven animals were investigated for leptospiral carriership, 381 were tested for the existence of specific antibodies to leptospira. Through culti...

BACKGROUND Although there is serologic evidence of exposure of cats to Leptospira spp., clinical disease is rarely reported in cats. OBJECTIVE To compare the seropositivity and urinary polymerase chain reaction (PCR) status for Leptospira spp. between healthy (H) cats and cats with kidney disease (KD), to investigate the serovars potentially involved, and to evaluate potential risk factors. ...

The MICs of 24 antimicrobials for 26 Leptospira spp. serovars were determined using a broth microdilution technique. The MICs at which 90% of isolates tested were inhibited (MIC(90)s) of cefepime, imipenem-cilastatin, erythromycin, clarithromycin, and telithromycin were all /=3.13 microg...