Rattus norvegicus acting as reservoir of Leptospira interrogans in the Middle Black Sea region of Turkey, as evidenced by PCR and presence of serum antibodies to Leptospira strain

Sunbul, M; Esen, S; Leblebicioglu, H; Hokelek, MURAT; Pekbay, A; Eroglu, C

doi:10.1080/00365540110076796

Rattus norvegicus acting as reservoir of Leptospira interrogans in the Middle Black Sea region of Turkey, as evidenced by PCR and presence of serum antibodies to Leptospira strain

Atıf İçin Kopyala

Sunbul M., Esen S., Leblebicioglu H., Hokelek M., Pekbay A., Eroglu C.

SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, cilt.33, sa.12, ss.896-898, 2001 (SCI-Expanded)

Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
Cilt numarası: 33 Sayı: 12
Basım Tarihi: 2001
Doi Numarası: 10.1080/00365540110076796
Dergi Adı: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
Sayfa Sayıları: ss.896-898
Kocaeli Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Leptospirosis, a common form of zoonosis, especially in rainy, countries, is caused by Leptospira interrogans. In our region of Turkey this type of disease has often been encountered in connection with rice harvesting and we therefore attempted to evaluate the prevalence of L. interrogans in wild rats in our region. Fifty-nine Rattus norvegicus rats were trapped alive in different areas of an approximate to100 km stretch of seashore in the Middle Black Sea region of Turkey. L. interrogans was determined by PCR in sera, kidney and brain tissue. Sixteen (27.1%) kidney samples and 10 brain tissue samples (16.9%) were positive for L. interrogans. No PCR positivity was seen in sera samples. Five sera were positive by microagglutination test. A large proportion of wild rats in our region were found to be carriers of L. interrogans. We conclude that people who are exposed to rat urine in their daily life are at risk of acquiring L. interrogans.