Preliminary investigation of canine leptospirosis in a rural area of Thailand.

摘要

Leptospirosis is a major zoonosis throughout the world. The disease can infect several mammalian species of farming and domestic animals. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of canine leptospirosis in a rural area of Thailand. 153 unvaccinated dogs were selected from the Nakhon Pathom province of Thailand during April 2006 by simple random sampling. Age, breed and sex of the dogs were recorded. All serum samples were reacted with L. interrogans serovars australis, bangkok, bratislava, autumnalis, bataviae, canicola, cellidoni, djasiman, grppotyphosa, hebdomadis, copenhageni, icterohaemorrhagiae, javanica, saigon, pomona, pyrogenes, zanoni, ranarum, sarmini, hardjo, sejroe, wolfii, patoc and tarassovi by microscopic agglutination test (MAT). The results showed the highest positive occurrence was in dogs aged 3-6 years (P<0.05), but were not significantly different between the genders. L. interrogans serovar tarassovi (30.7%) was the most prevalent and its titre ranged from 50-400. For all 88 MAT positive sera, 62.5% and 37.5% were positive with multiple and single Leptospira serovars, respectively. The high disease prevalence in dogs indicates the high Leptospira sp. infection in the area. Consequently, for effective disease eradication strategies, the obtained serovars should be utilized for further vaccination..