Difference between revisions of "Category:Leptospiraceae"
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Revision as of 21:06, 14 May 2010
Leptospira
- Motile, helical bacteria found in aquatic environments
- Require liquid media for culture
- Cause leptospirosis in all animals, which can range from mild urogenital tract infections to systemic diseases
- Organisms persist in kidney tubules or genital tract of carrier animals and are shed in urine
- Transmission via direct contact
- Serovars are fairly host-specific, causing mild disease in the maintenance host, with shedding in the urine
- Maintenance hosts may transmit the infection to incidental hosts, which are less susceptible to infection, but develop serious disease
- May cause severe systemic disease, resulting in enteritis
- Pathogenesis and pathogenicity
- Depends on virulence of the serovar and susceptibility of the host
- Leptospires invade tissues through moist skin or via mucous membranes, aided by their motility
- Leptospires may invade via receptor-mediated endocytosis
- They disseminate through the body via the blood stream
- Antibodies clear organisms from the blood stream after about 10 days of infection
- Organisms may persist in the renal tubules, uterus, eye or meninges
- Evade phagocytosis possibly via macrophage apoptosis
- Damage red blood cell membranes and endothelial and liver cells, leading to haemolytic anaemia, jaundice, haemoglobin pigmentation, haemoglobinuria and haemorrhage in acute leptospirosis
- Diagnosis
- Clinical signs and history of exposure
- Dark-field microscopy of urine may detect organisms
- Isolation from blood or urine by culture or animal inoculation
- Identificaiton or certain serovars using DNA probes and serology
- FLuorescent antibody technique for identification in tissues
- Silver impregnation
- Molecular techniques such as PCR
- Serology using microscopic agglutination test or ELISA
- Clinical infections
Leptospirosis - Cattle and Sheep
- Horses
- Clinical disease rare
- May be maintenance host of serovar bratislava, which causes abortion and stillbirth
- Incidental hosts for serovar pomona, suffering from abortion and renal disease
- Chronic leptospirosis may cause an immune-mediated anterior uveitis
- Horses
- Pigs
- The rodent-adapted serovars icterohaemorrhagica and copenhagenii cause acute disease in pigs
- Severe disease in young pigs
- Serovar pomona is the host-adapted species, and may be shed in the urine
- Infections may cause abortions and stillbirths
- Pigs are maintenance hosts for serovars tarassovi and bratislava, which may cause reproductive failure
- Pigs
- Dogs and cats
- Serovars canicola and icterohaemorrhagica cause leptospirosis in dogs, but are vaccinated against
- Serovars pomona and grippotyphosa are becoming important
- The host-adapted serovar canicolar causes acute renal failure in puppies; a chronic uraemic syndrome may follow
- Incidental infections with serovar icterohaemorrhagica or copenhagenii cause renal failure
- L. icterohaemorrhagiae may cause hepatic jaundice
- Serovar bratislava causes abortion and infertility in dogs, which may be the maintenance host
- Infections uncommon in cats
- Dogs and cats