Epidemiological characterization of Leptospira spp. infection in working horses and in an occupationally exposed population in six Colombian police stations

Juan Camilo Calderón, Miryam Astudillo, Marlyn H. Romero, .

Keywords: Leptospira;, leptospirosis/epidemiology, seroepidemiologic studies, risk factors, horses, agglutination test;, polymerase chain reaction

Abstract

Introduction: Police working horses are in close contact with their managers and the general population during recreational and patrol activities, which can favor the transmission of leptospirosis among the horses and the occupationally exposed personnel.
Objective. To characterize epidemiologically leptospirosis through serology, urine culture and PCR in working horses and in the occupationally exposed population in six police stations in Colombia.
Materials and methods. We tested 153 castrated male horses and 123 people in six police stations in the municipalities of Manizales, Pereira, Armenia, Ibagué, Tuluá, and Cali. Three structured formats were applied and blood samples were obtained from people and horses, which were processed with the Macroscopic Agglutination Test, (MAT) for 24 serogroups. Horses were subject to a clinical examination, and urine samples were obtained for urine culture and conventional PCR.
Results. The seroprevalence of human Leptospira spp. was 3.25% (n=4) while in horses it was 85% (n=130). Among the horses, serogroups Djasiman and Shermani were the most prevalent. The urine culture was positive in 64.7% (99/153) of the samples, whereas PCR analyzes were negative. A statistically significant association was found between the frequency of exiting the facilities (p=0.009) and the presence of wildlife (p=0.0051) with the infection by serogroup Shermani.
Conclusion. The epidemiological characteristics of leptospirosis in horses suggest an endemic presentation of the infection and its role as reservoirs of the bacteria; however, it is necessary to elucidate the pathogenesis of the disease with complementary studies.

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  • Juan Camilo Calderón Maestría en Salud Pública, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia; Policía Nacional de Colombia, Manizales, Colombia
  • Miryam Astudillo Escuela de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
  • Marlyn H. Romero Grupo CIENVET, Departamento Salud Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7143-7339

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How to Cite
1.
Calderón JC, Astudillo M, Romero MH. Epidemiological characterization of Leptospira spp. infection in working horses and in an occupationally exposed population in six Colombian police stations. biomedica [Internet]. 2019 May 1 [cited 2024 May 11];39(Sp. 1):19-34. Available from: https://revistabiomedica.org/index.php/biomedica/article/view/4475

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Published
2019-05-01

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