Leptospira seroprevalence in capybaras from a Brazilian urban area
Tonin, Alexandre AlbertoKrawczak, Felipe da SilvaNoll, Jéssica Carolina GomesTochetto, CamilaMartins, Jorge Luiz RodriguesBadke, Manoel Renato TelesLabruna, Marcelo BahiaSilva, Aleksandro Schafer da
Background: Leptospirosis remains the most widespread zoonotic disease in the world. As a clinical entity it is strongly associated with regional occupational and environmental exposures. While the exact global disease burden remains unknown, recent estimates by the leptospirosis Burden Epidemiology Reference Group (LERG) at the World Health Organization have set the number of human cases of severe leptospirosis to over 500,000 per year. This number almost certainly represents an under-representation due to poor surveillance and difficult diagnosis. Leptospira spp. belong to the order Spirochaetales, family Leptospiraceae, composed by 13 pathogenic Leptospira species with more than 260 serovars. Wildlife species are commonly considered to be important epidemiological carriers, mainly because of their frequent reactivity to Leptospira serovars native to their habitat. Capybara (Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris), a known leptospirosis host, is a widespread species in South America. However, reports regarding the importance of this animal in the epidemiology of leptospirosis are rare. Therefore, the objective of this study was to report the results of leptospirosis serological survey of capybaras from a residential park area in southeastern Brazil. Materials, Methods & Results: A total of 172 capybaras were sampled at Itú Municipality, state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil [...](AU)
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