%0 Journal Article
%T Seroprevalence of Leptospiral Antibodies in Canine Population in and around Namakkal
%A N. R. Senthil
%A K. M. Palanivel
%A R. Rishikesavan
%J Journal of Veterinary Medicine
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/971810
%X Leptospirosis is a reemerging and a complex zoonotic bacterial disease, caused by pathogenic serovars of Leptospira interrogans. A total of 124 sera samples of dogs belonging to different categories like vaccinated, unvaccinated-semiowned, and stray dogs were subjected to sampling. Microscopic agglutination test (MAT) was conducted by using Leptospira culture. Out of 42 vaccinated dogs, 24 (57%) were positive to one or more serovars. Of the 24, 22 (52.3%), 11 (26.19%), 4 (9.5%), 1 (3%), and 2 (4.7%) were positive to icterohaemorrhagiae, canicola, pomona, grippotyphosa, and autumnalis, respectively. Of the 48 unvaccinated semiowned dogs, 10 (28.8%) showed positive agglutination to one or more serovars. Of the 10 samples, 7 (14.5%), 2 (4.1%), 3 (6.2%), 3 (6.2%), and 5 (10.2%) were positive to icterohaemorrhagiae, canicola, pomona, grippotyphosa, and autumnalis, respectively. Among the 34 stray dogs, 12 showed positive agglutination to one or more leptospiral antibodies. Of the 12 samples, 6 (17.6%) showed positive agglutination to icterohaemorrhagiae, 2 (5.8%) to canicola, 5 (14.7%) to pomona, 7 (20.5%) to grippotyphosa, and 5 (4.7%) to autumnalis. This study emphasized the changing trends in the epidemiology of leptospirosis with higher prevalence of serovar L. grippotyphosa in street dogs. 1. Introduction The five leptospiral serovars known to be endemic in and around Namakkal, Tamilnadu, are L. interrogans serovars icterohaemorrhagiae, canicola, pomona, grippotyphosa, and autumnalis. Exposure to leptospira organisms is common in dogs reported by [1¨C3]. Currently available leptospiral vaccines for dogs in India contain inactivated Leptospira interrogans serovars icterohaemorrhagiae and canicola [4] which are antigenically similar to serovar copenhageni being from the same serovars icterohaemorrhagiae [5] and will stimulate active immunity to both serovars. A serosurveillance study was conducted to provide further information on the changing epidemiological trend of canine leptospirosis infections in Tamilnadu. The aim in the present study was to investigate the prevalence of serum antibodies against five endemic leptospiral serovars in dogs identifying the patterns of risk and generating further hypotheses for investigation of canine leptospirosis infections in Tamilnadu, India. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Data Collection and Handling The study population was a convenience sample of£¿£¿124 canine£¿£¿serum samples submitted to the diagnostic laboratory of the Department of Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (DVEPMD), Veterinary College and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jvm/2013/971810/