ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2016
High Leptospira Diversity in Animals and Humans Complicates the Search for Common Reservoirs of Human Disease in Rural Ecuador.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- 2000-2025: A Quarter of a Century of Studies on Pet Ownership in the Amazon-Epidemiological Implications for Public Health.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Pooled it
- Meta-analysis to estimate the load of Leptospira excreted in urine: beyond rats as important sources of transmission in low-income rural communities.BMC research notes · 2017Pooled it
- A systematic review ofOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- Review
- Wild Boar (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Clinical and epidemiological profile of hospitalized patients with leptospirosis: a cross-sectional study in Durán, Ecuador, 2023.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Spatiotemporal dynamics and environmental trends of reported human leptospirosis in Sri Lanka, 2007-2024.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- High Resolution Genotyping of Leptospira Direct from Clinical Samples Using Multiplexed Amplicon Sequencing.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Host-Driven Genetic Diversity ofTransboundary and emerging diseases · 2026Article
- Human leptospirosis in northern Iran: a population-based epidemiological study using infectious disease surveillance system data.BMC research notes · 2025Article
- Backyard Livestock Guinea Pigs Are Reservoirs forTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2025Article
- Leptospira interrogans in the Galapagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki).BMC zoology · 2025Article
- A first insight into the occurrence ofOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- High prevalence and diversity ofOne health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- Host population dynamics influence Leptospira spp. transmission patterns among Rattus norvegicus in Boston, Massachusetts, US.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Prevalence ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- One Health Field Approach Applied to Leptospirosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Across Humans, Animals and the Environment.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Leptospirosis outbreak in Ecuador in 2023: A pilot study for surveillance from a One Health perspective.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Article
- Molecular Characterization ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundLeptospirosis is a zoonotic disease responsible for high morbidity around the world, especially in tropical and low income countries. Rats are thought to be the main vector of human leptospirosis in urban settings. However, differences between urban and low-income rural communities provide additional insights into the epidemiology of the disease. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsOur study was conducted in two low-income rural communities near the coast of Ecuador. We detected and characterized infectious leptospira DNA in a wide variety of samples using new real time quantitative PCR assays and amplicon sequencing. We detected infectious leptospira in a high percentage of febrile patients (14.7%). In contrast to previous studies on leptospirosis risk factors, higher positivity was not found in rats (3.0%) but rather in cows (35.8%) and pigs (21.1%). Six leptospira species were identified (L. borgpetersenii, L kirschnerii, L santarosai, L. interrogans, L noguchii, and an intermediate species within the L. licerasiae and L. wolffii clade) and no significant differences in the species of leptospira present in each animal species was detected (χ2 = 9.89, adj.p-value = 0.27). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A large portion of the world's human population lives in low-income, rural communities, however, there is limited information about leptospirosis transmission dynamics in these settings. In these areas, exposure to peridomestic livestock is particularly common and high prevalence of infectious leptospira in cows and pigs suggest that they may be the most important reservoir for human transmission. Genotyping clinical samples show that multiple species of leptospira are involved in human disease. As these genotypes were also detected in samples from a variety of animals, genotype data must be used in conjunction with epidemiological data to provide evidence of transmission and the importance of different potential leptospirosis reservoirs.
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