ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2017
Human leptospirosis in Seychelles: A prospective study confirms the heavy burden of the disease but suggests that rats are not the main reservoir.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the epidemiology of Leptospirosis in HIV uninfected and in people living with HIV from the Southern African Development Community.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the aetiological agents of non-malarial febrile illnesses in Africa.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Nucleic acid and antigen detection tests for leptospirosis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- One Health Field Approach Applied to Leptospirosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Across Humans, Animals and the Environment.Open forum infectious diseases · 2025Article
- A Comparative Study of Human Leptospirosis between Mayotte and Reunion Islands Highlights Distinct Clinical and Microbial Features Arising from Distinct Inter-Island Bacterial Ecology.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Clinical manifestations of human leptospirosis: bacteria matter.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Article
- Molecular detection of Leptospira spp. in small wild rodents from rural areas of São Paulo State, Brazil.Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical · 2023Article
- Co-Radiation ofTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- Tracking Animal Reservoirs of PathogenicTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2021Article
- Agro-Environmental Determinants of Leptospirosis: A Retrospective Spatiotemporal Analysis (2004-2014) in Mahasarakham Province (Thailand).Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2021Article
- Effects of land use, habitat characteristics, and small mammal community composition on Leptospira prevalence in northeast Madagascar.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2020Article
- An Observational Study of Human Leptospirosis in Seychelles.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2020Observational
- Spatial and Simultaneous Seroprevalence of Anti-Frontiers in veterinary science · 2020Article
- Leptospira infection in rats: A literature review of global prevalence and distribution.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Review
- Genetic characteristics of pathogenic Leptospira in wild small animals and livestock in Jiangxi Province, China, 2002-2015.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2019Article
- Feral cats do not play a major role in leptospirosis epidemiology on Reunion Island.Epidemiology and infection · 2019Article
- ThreeFrontiers in microbiology · 2019Article
- Complete Genome Sequences of Three Leptospira mayottensis Strains from Tenrecs That Are Endemic in the Malagasy Region.Microbiology resource announcements · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLeptospirosis is a bacterial zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira for which rats are considered as the main reservoir. Disease incidence is higher in tropical countries, especially in insular ecosystems. Our objectives were to determine the current burden of leptospirosis in Seychelles, a country ranking first worldwide according to historical data, to establish epidemiological links between animal reservoirs and human disease, and to identify drivers of transmission.
methodsA total of 223 patients with acute febrile symptoms of unknown origin were enrolled in a 12-months prospective study and tested for leptospirosis through real-time PCR, IgM ELISA and MAT. In addition, 739 rats trapped throughout the main island were investigated for Leptospira renal carriage. All molecularly confirmed positive samples were further genotyped.
resultsA total of 51 patients fulfilled the biological criteria of acute leptospirosis, corresponding to an annual incidence of 54.6 (95% CI 40.7-71.8) per 100,000 inhabitants. Leptospira carriage in Rattus spp. was overall low (7.7%) but dramatically higher in Rattus norvegicus (52.9%) than in Rattus rattus (4.4%). Leptospira interrogans was the only detected species in both humans and rats, and was represented by three distinct Sequence Types (STs). Two were novel STs identified in two thirds of acute human cases while noteworthily absent from rats.
conclusionsThis study shows that human leptospirosis still represents a heavy disease burden in Seychelles. Genotype data suggests that rats are actually not the main reservoir for human disease. We highlight a rather limited efficacy of preventive measures so far implemented in Seychelles. This could result from ineffective control measures of excreting animal populations, possibly due to a misidentification of the main contaminating reservoir(s). Altogether, presented data stimulate the exploration of alternative reservoir animal hosts.
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