TY - JOUR
T1 - High prevalence of intermediate leptospira spp. DNA in febrile humans from urban and rural Ecuador
AU - Chiriboga, Jorge
AU - Barragan, Verónica
AU - Arroyo, Gabriela
AU - Sosa, Andrea
AU - Birdsell, Dawn N.
AU - España, Karool
AU - Mora, Ana
AU - Espín, Emilia
AU - Mejía, María Eugenia
AU - Morales, Melba
AU - Pinargote, Carmina
AU - Gonzalez, Manuel
AU - Hartskeerl, Rudy
AU - Keim, Paul
AU - Bretas, Gustavo
AU - Eisenberg, Joseph N.S.
AU - Trueba, Gabriel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/12
Y1 - 2015/12
N2 - Leptospira spp., which comprise 3 clusters (pathogenic, saprophytic, and intermediate) that vary in pathogenicity, infect >1 million persons worldwide each year. The disease burden of the intermediate leptospires is unclear. To increase knowledge of this cluster, we used new molecular approaches to characterize Leptospira spp. in 464 samples from febrile patients in rural, semiurban, and urban communities in Ecuador; in 20 samples from nonfebrile persons in the rural community; and in 206 samples from animals in the semiurban community. We observed a higher percentage of leptospiral DNA–positive samples from febrile persons in rural (64%) versus urban (21%) and semiurban (25%) communities; no leptospires were detected in nonfebrile persons. The percentage of intermediate cluster strains in humans (96%) was higher than that of pathogenic cluster strains (4%); strains in animal samples belonged to intermediate (49%) and pathogenic (51%) clusters. Intermediate cluster strains may be causing a substantial amount of fever in coastal Ecuador.
AB - Leptospira spp., which comprise 3 clusters (pathogenic, saprophytic, and intermediate) that vary in pathogenicity, infect >1 million persons worldwide each year. The disease burden of the intermediate leptospires is unclear. To increase knowledge of this cluster, we used new molecular approaches to characterize Leptospira spp. in 464 samples from febrile patients in rural, semiurban, and urban communities in Ecuador; in 20 samples from nonfebrile persons in the rural community; and in 206 samples from animals in the semiurban community. We observed a higher percentage of leptospiral DNA–positive samples from febrile persons in rural (64%) versus urban (21%) and semiurban (25%) communities; no leptospires were detected in nonfebrile persons. The percentage of intermediate cluster strains in humans (96%) was higher than that of pathogenic cluster strains (4%); strains in animal samples belonged to intermediate (49%) and pathogenic (51%) clusters. Intermediate cluster strains may be causing a substantial amount of fever in coastal Ecuador.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84947417468&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3201/eid2112.140659
DO - 10.3201/eid2112.140659
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 26583534
AN - SCOPUS:84947417468
SN - 1080-6040
VL - 21
SP - 2141
EP - 2147
JO - Emerging Infectious Diseases
JF - Emerging Infectious Diseases
IS - 12
ER -
