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Review
. 2021 Jan 14;11(1):191.
doi: 10.3390/ani11010191.

Insight into the Epidemiology of Leptospirosis: A Review of Leptospira Isolations from "Unconventional" Hosts

Giovanni Cilia  1 , Fabrizio Bertelloni  1 , Sara Albini  1 , Filippo Fratini  1
Affiliations
Review

Insight into the Epidemiology of Leptospirosis: A Review of Leptospira Isolations from "Unconventional" Hosts

Giovanni Cilia et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Leptospirosis is a re-emerging worldwide zoonotic disease. Even though the primary serological test for diagnosis and surveying is the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), isolation remains the gold-standard test to detect Leptospira infections. The leptospirosis transmission is linked to maintenance and accidental hosts. In the epidemiology of Leptospira some serovar are strictly related to specific maintenance hosts; however, in recent years, the bacterium was isolated from an even wider spectrum of species. The aim of this review is to report the isolation of Leptospira strains in animals which could be recognized as "unconventional" hosts, analyzing studies from 1960 to 2020 that highlighted the Leptospira isolation. This scientific literature aimed to provide evidence of infection in several animal species including of the Carnivora, Didelphimorphia, Rodentia, Cetacea, Cingulata, Afrosoricida, Chiroptera and Primate orders, as well as in Reptilia and Amphibia classes. In conclusion, the spreading of Leptospira is attention-worthy because the infection could occur in all the animal species ranging in a specific area. Further screening and isolations are needed to collect all necessary data to gain a complete understanding of leptospirosis epidemiology and its modifications.

Keywords: Leptospira isolation; host-pathogens interactions; leptospirosis; public health; wildlife; zoonoses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of f publications from 1960 to 2020 concerning Leptospira isolation from “unconventional” hosts. Different animal orders are represented with different colors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Geographical distribution of the Leptospira isolation. The map shows, through different colors, Leptospira isolation from different animal orders.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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