Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira for which rats are considered as the main reservoir. Disease incidence is higher in tropical countries, especially in insular ecosystems. Our objectives were to determine the current burden of leptospirosis in Seychelles, a countr...
Published in: | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005831 https://doaj.org/article/0f4d78c67e3f43828f75fb2a23131127 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0f4d78c67e3f43828f75fb2a23131127 2023-05-15T15:14:56+02:00 Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. Leon Biscornet Koussay Dellagi Frédéric Pagès Jastin Bibi Jeanine de Comarmond Julien Mélade Graham Govinden Maria Tirant Yann Gomard Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Jimmy Mélanie Gérard Rocamora Gildas Le Minter Julien Jaubert Patrick Mavingui Pablo Tortosa 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005831 https://doaj.org/article/0f4d78c67e3f43828f75fb2a23131127 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5591009?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005831 https://doaj.org/article/0f4d78c67e3f43828f75fb2a23131127 PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 11, Iss 8, p e0005831 (2017) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005831 2022-12-30T22:30:01Z Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira for which rats are considered as the main reservoir. Disease incidence is higher in tropical countries, especially in insular ecosystems. Our objectives were to determine the current burden of leptospirosis in Seychelles, a country ranking first worldwide according to historical data, to establish epidemiological links between animal reservoirs and human disease, and to identify drivers of transmission.A total of 223 patients with acute febrile symptoms of unknown origin were enrolled in a 12-months prospective study and tested for leptospirosis through real-time PCR, IgM ELISA and MAT. In addition, 739 rats trapped throughout the main island were investigated for Leptospira renal carriage. All molecularly confirmed positive samples were further genotyped.A total of 51 patients fulfilled the biological criteria of acute leptospirosis, corresponding to an annual incidence of 54.6 (95% CI 40.7-71.8) per 100,000 inhabitants. Leptospira carriage in Rattus spp. was overall low (7.7%) but dramatically higher in Rattus norvegicus (52.9%) than in Rattus rattus (4.4%). Leptospira interrogans was the only detected species in both humans and rats, and was represented by three distinct Sequence Types (STs). Two were novel STs identified in two thirds of acute human cases while noteworthily absent from rats.This study shows that human leptospirosis still represents a heavy disease burden in Seychelles. Genotype data suggests that rats are actually not the main reservoir for human disease. We highlight a rather limited efficacy of preventive measures so far implemented in Seychelles. This could result from ineffective control measures of excreting animal populations, possibly due to a misidentification of the main contaminating reservoir(s). Altogether, presented data stimulate the exploration of alternative reservoir animal hosts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Rattus rattus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Main Island ENVELOPE(-38.220,-38.220,-54.007,-54.007) PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 11 8 e0005831 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Leon Biscornet Koussay Dellagi Frédéric Pagès Jastin Bibi Jeanine de Comarmond Julien Mélade Graham Govinden Maria Tirant Yann Gomard Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Jimmy Mélanie Gérard Rocamora Gildas Le Minter Julien Jaubert Patrick Mavingui Pablo Tortosa Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Leptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira for which rats are considered as the main reservoir. Disease incidence is higher in tropical countries, especially in insular ecosystems. Our objectives were to determine the current burden of leptospirosis in Seychelles, a country ranking first worldwide according to historical data, to establish epidemiological links between animal reservoirs and human disease, and to identify drivers of transmission.A total of 223 patients with acute febrile symptoms of unknown origin were enrolled in a 12-months prospective study and tested for leptospirosis through real-time PCR, IgM ELISA and MAT. In addition, 739 rats trapped throughout the main island were investigated for Leptospira renal carriage. All molecularly confirmed positive samples were further genotyped.A total of 51 patients fulfilled the biological criteria of acute leptospirosis, corresponding to an annual incidence of 54.6 (95% CI 40.7-71.8) per 100,000 inhabitants. Leptospira carriage in Rattus spp. was overall low (7.7%) but dramatically higher in Rattus norvegicus (52.9%) than in Rattus rattus (4.4%). Leptospira interrogans was the only detected species in both humans and rats, and was represented by three distinct Sequence Types (STs). Two were novel STs identified in two thirds of acute human cases while noteworthily absent from rats.This study shows that human leptospirosis still represents a heavy disease burden in Seychelles. Genotype data suggests that rats are actually not the main reservoir for human disease. We highlight a rather limited efficacy of preventive measures so far implemented in Seychelles. This could result from ineffective control measures of excreting animal populations, possibly due to a misidentification of the main contaminating reservoir(s). Altogether, presented data stimulate the exploration of alternative reservoir animal hosts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Leon Biscornet Koussay Dellagi Frédéric Pagès Jastin Bibi Jeanine de Comarmond Julien Mélade Graham Govinden Maria Tirant Yann Gomard Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Jimmy Mélanie Gérard Rocamora Gildas Le Minter Julien Jaubert Patrick Mavingui Pablo Tortosa |
author_facet |
Leon Biscornet Koussay Dellagi Frédéric Pagès Jastin Bibi Jeanine de Comarmond Julien Mélade Graham Govinden Maria Tirant Yann Gomard Vanina Guernier Erwan Lagadec Jimmy Mélanie Gérard Rocamora Gildas Le Minter Julien Jaubert Patrick Mavingui Pablo Tortosa |
author_sort |
Leon Biscornet |
title |
Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. |
title_short |
Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. |
title_full |
Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. |
title_fullStr |
Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. |
title_sort |
human leptospirosis in seychelles: a prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005831 https://doaj.org/article/0f4d78c67e3f43828f75fb2a23131127 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-38.220,-38.220,-54.007,-54.007) |
geographic |
Arctic Main Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Main Island |
genre |
Arctic Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Rattus rattus |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 11, Iss 8, p e0005831 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5591009?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0005831 https://doaj.org/article/0f4d78c67e3f43828f75fb2a23131127 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005831 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
e0005831 |
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1766345332329807872 |