Leptospirosis is the leading zoonotic disease in terms of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Effective prevention is urgently needed as the drivers of disease transmission continue to intensify. The key challenge has been developing a widely applicable vaccine that protects against the >300 serovars that can cause leptospirosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
September 2019
Leptospirosis is a widespread and potentially life-threatening zoonotic disease caused by spirochaetes of the genus Leptospira. Humans become infected primarily via contact with environmental reservoirs contaminated by the urine of shedding mammalian hosts. Populations in high transmission settings, such as urban slums and subsistence farming communities, are exposed to low doses of Leptospira on a daily basis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Cell Infect Microbiol
February 2019
Leptospirosis is an emerging zoonotic disease with more than 1 million cases annually. Currently there is lack of evidence for signaling pathways involved during the infection process of . In our comprehensive genomic analysis of 20 spp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We address some critical but unknown parameters of individuals and populations of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) that influence leptospiral infection, maintenance and spirochetal loads shed in urine, which contaminates the environment ultimately leading to human infection.
Methodology/principal Findings: Our study, conducted in Salvador, Brazil, established the average load of leptospires in positive kidneys to be 5.9 x 10(6) per mL (range 3.