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. 2019 Feb 27;4(1):42.
doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed4010042.

A One Health Approach to Investigating Leptospira Serogroups and Their Spatial Distributions among Humans and Animals in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2013⁻2015

Noemi Polo  1 , Gustavo Machado  2 , Rogerio Rodrigues  3 , Patricia Nájera Hamrick  4 , Claudia Munoz-Zanzi  5 , Martha Maria Pereira  6 , Marilina Bercini  7 , Loeci Natalina Timm  8 , Maria Cristina Schneider  9
Affiliations

A One Health Approach to Investigating Leptospira Serogroups and Their Spatial Distributions among Humans and Animals in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2013⁻2015

Noemi Polo et al. Trop Med Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Leptospirosis is an endemic zoonotic disease in Brazil and is widespread throughout rural populations in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This study aimed to identify presumptive infecting Leptospira serogroups in human and animal cases and describe their occurrences within the ecoregions of the state by animal species. Data for human and animal leptospirosis cases were gathered from the government's passive surveillance systems and presumptive infecting serogroups were identified based on a two-fold titer difference in serogroups in the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) panel. A total of 22 different serogroups were reported across both human and animal cases. Serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae was the most common among humans, while serogroup Sejroe predominated among animal cases, particularly bovines. Each ecoregion had a large distribution of cases, with 51% of the human cases in the Parana⁻Paraiba ecoregion, and 81% of the animal cases in the Savannah ecoregion. Identifying and mapping the serogroups circulating using the One Health approach is the first step for further understanding the distribution of the disease in the state. This study has the potential to aid in guiding public health and agricultural practices, furthering the need for a human vaccine in high-risk populations to complement control and prevention efforts.

Keywords: Brazil; One Health; global health; infectious disease; leptospirosis; serogroups; zoonoses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors are members of different organizations, however they alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article and do not necessarily represent the decisions or the stated policy of their organization.

Figures

Figure A1
Figure A1
Study design flowchart of human cases from the SINAN database.
Figure A2
Figure A2
Study design flowchart of animal cases from IPVDF database.
Figure A3
Figure A3
Presumptive infecting serogroups in human leptospirosis cases, Rio Grande do Sul, 2013–2015.
Figure A4
Figure A4
Presumptive infecting serogroups in animal leptospirosis cases, Rio Grande do Sul, 2013–2015.
Figure A5
Figure A5
Leptospirosis presumptive infecting serogroups distribution by species within the ecoregions of Rio Grande do Sul in humans (a), bovines (b), equine (c), canines (d), others* (e) *others: ovine, swine, boar.
Figure A5
Figure A5
Leptospirosis presumptive infecting serogroups distribution by species within the ecoregions of Rio Grande do Sul in humans (a), bovines (b), equine (c), canines (d), others* (e) *others: ovine, swine, boar.
Figure A5
Figure A5
Leptospirosis presumptive infecting serogroups distribution by species within the ecoregions of Rio Grande do Sul in humans (a), bovines (b), equine (c), canines (d), others* (e) *others: ovine, swine, boar.
Figure A6
Figure A6
Presumptive infecting serogroups by ecoregion.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Result flowchart of leptospirosis cases in humans, Rio Grande do Sul, 2013–2015. MAT 1: number of cases with reported results from a single MAT test. MAT 2: number of cases that had reported results from a second MAT test. MAT: microscopic agglutination test.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Result flowchart of leptospirosis cases in animals, Rio Grande do Sul, 2013–2015.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Main presumptive infecting serogroups detected in Rio Grande do Sul in both human and animal cases, 2013–2015.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Leptospirosis presumptive infecting serogroup distribution for both human and animal cases within the ecoregions of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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