Molecular epidemiology of environmental leptospira in Udon Thani, Thailand, and in vientiane, lao peoples democratic republic
Issued Date
2014
Resource Type
Language
eng
Rights
Mahidol University
Suggested Citation
Janjira Thaipadungpanit, จันทร์จิรา ไทยผดุงพานิช, Patpong Rongkard, Premjit Amornchai, เปรมจิตร อมรชัย, Vanaporn Wuthiekanun, วรรณพร วุฒิเอกอนันต์, Direk Limmathurotsakul, ดิเรก ลิ้มมธุรสกุล, David Dance, Paul Newton (2014). Molecular epidemiology of environmental leptospira in Udon Thani, Thailand, and in vientiane, lao peoples democratic republic. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/63142
Title
Molecular epidemiology of environmental leptospira in Udon Thani, Thailand, and in vientiane, lao peoples democratic republic
Abstract
Leptospirosis is an acute febrile illness caused by pathogenic bacteria of the
genus Leptospira. The bacteria are regularly excreted into the environment
by carrier animals, and infection in man mainly results from indirect contact
with contaminated water or soil, for example during rice farming. A single clone of
bacteria called Leptospira interrogans sequence type (ST) 34 caused an outbreak of
human leptospirosis in northeast Thailand and also frequently caused leptospirosis in
the Lao PDR (Laos). Little is known about the presence and molecular epidemiology of
Leptospira in these two endemic areas. This is mainly due to the difficulty of isolating
pathogenic Leptospira species from the environment. With a new bacteria culture
medium called Leptospira VW agar, isolation is more robust.
A total of 103 environmental water samples were collected from Udon Thani, Thailand
(n=86) and Vientiane, Laos (n=17) in the dry and wet seasons. 19/86 (22%) samples
from Udon Thani and 2/17 (12%) from Vientiane contained Leptospira species.
Single colonies of Leptospira were screened for pathogenic and intermediate group
markers. Pathogenic (n=1, novel species) and intermediate (n=3, Leptospira licerasiae
and Leptospira wolffii) isolates were identified only from Thai samples. Leptospira
interrogans ST 34 or other pathogenic Leptospira species were not identified in
samples from water in Thailand or Laos.
Description
Joint International Tropical Medicine Meeting 2014: 3D perspectives on tropical medicine: drivers, diversity and determination the 8th seminar on food-and water-borne parasitic zoonoses: 2-4 December 2014: Centara Grand Bangkok Convention Center at Central World, Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok: Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University; 2014. p. 212.