Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries.
In the past decade, two leptospirosis outbreaks occurred among strawberry harvesters in Germany, with 13, and 45 reported cases respectively. In both outbreaks, common voles (Microtus arvalis) infected with Leptospira kischneri serovar Grippotyphosa were identified as the most likely outbreak source...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6ae1186227864167ad9b1d0ececa4760 2023-05-15T17:12:39+02:00 Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. Duygu Tekemen Mathias Franz Nadja S Bier Martin Richter Karsten Nöckler Enno Luge Anne Mayer-Scholl 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 https://doaj.org/article/6ae1186227864167ad9b1d0ececa4760 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 https://doaj.org/article/6ae1186227864167ad9b1d0ececa4760 PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 8, p e0237466 (2020) Medicine R Science Q article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 2022-12-31T04:32:59Z In the past decade, two leptospirosis outbreaks occurred among strawberry harvesters in Germany, with 13, and 45 reported cases respectively. In both outbreaks, common voles (Microtus arvalis) infected with Leptospira kischneri serovar Grippotyphosa were identified as the most likely outbreak source. In an univariate analysis, eating unwashed strawberries was identified as one of the risk factors associated with Leptospira infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival time of L. kirschneri serovar Grippotyphosa on strawberries under varying conditions. Strawberries were spiked with 5x109 of both a laboratory reference strain (strain Moskva V) and an outbreak field strain (94-6/2007) of L. kirschneri serovar Grippotyphosa sequence type 110. Survival times were investigated in a fully crossed design with three incubation times (2h, 4h, 6h and 8h) and three temperatures (15°C, 21°C and 25°C) with three replicated for each condition. A wash protocol was developed and recovered Leptospira were determined by qPCR, dark field microscopy and culturing. Viable L. kirschneri of both the reference strain and the field strain were identified in all samples at 25°C and an incubation time of 2h, but only 1/9 (11%) and 4/9 (44%) of the samples incubated at 15°C were positive, respectively. Both reference and field strain were viable only in 2/9 (22%) at 25° after 6h. After an 8h incubation, viable Leptospira could not be identified on the surface of the strawberries or within the fruit for any of the tested conditions. Based on these results, the exposure risk of consumers to viable Leptospira spp. through the consumption of strawberries bought at the retail level is most likely very low. However, there is a potential risk of Leptospira infection by consumption of strawberries on pick-your-own farms. Article in Journal/Newspaper Microtus arvalis Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 15 8 e0237466 |
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Medicine R Science Q Duygu Tekemen Mathias Franz Nadja S Bier Martin Richter Karsten Nöckler Enno Luge Anne Mayer-Scholl Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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In the past decade, two leptospirosis outbreaks occurred among strawberry harvesters in Germany, with 13, and 45 reported cases respectively. In both outbreaks, common voles (Microtus arvalis) infected with Leptospira kischneri serovar Grippotyphosa were identified as the most likely outbreak source. In an univariate analysis, eating unwashed strawberries was identified as one of the risk factors associated with Leptospira infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival time of L. kirschneri serovar Grippotyphosa on strawberries under varying conditions. Strawberries were spiked with 5x109 of both a laboratory reference strain (strain Moskva V) and an outbreak field strain (94-6/2007) of L. kirschneri serovar Grippotyphosa sequence type 110. Survival times were investigated in a fully crossed design with three incubation times (2h, 4h, 6h and 8h) and three temperatures (15°C, 21°C and 25°C) with three replicated for each condition. A wash protocol was developed and recovered Leptospira were determined by qPCR, dark field microscopy and culturing. Viable L. kirschneri of both the reference strain and the field strain were identified in all samples at 25°C and an incubation time of 2h, but only 1/9 (11%) and 4/9 (44%) of the samples incubated at 15°C were positive, respectively. Both reference and field strain were viable only in 2/9 (22%) at 25° after 6h. After an 8h incubation, viable Leptospira could not be identified on the surface of the strawberries or within the fruit for any of the tested conditions. Based on these results, the exposure risk of consumers to viable Leptospira spp. through the consumption of strawberries bought at the retail level is most likely very low. However, there is a potential risk of Leptospira infection by consumption of strawberries on pick-your-own farms. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Duygu Tekemen Mathias Franz Nadja S Bier Martin Richter Karsten Nöckler Enno Luge Anne Mayer-Scholl |
author_facet |
Duygu Tekemen Mathias Franz Nadja S Bier Martin Richter Karsten Nöckler Enno Luge Anne Mayer-Scholl |
author_sort |
Duygu Tekemen |
title |
Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. |
title_short |
Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. |
title_full |
Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. |
title_fullStr |
Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Survival time of Leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. |
title_sort |
survival time of leptospira kirschneri on strawberries. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 https://doaj.org/article/6ae1186227864167ad9b1d0ececa4760 |
genre |
Microtus arvalis |
genre_facet |
Microtus arvalis |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 15, Iss 8, p e0237466 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 https://doaj.org/article/6ae1186227864167ad9b1d0ececa4760 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237466 |
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PLOS ONE |
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