Molecular Detection of Leptospiral DNA in Environmental Water on St. Kitts

Julienne Rawlins, Alexandra Portanova, Ilana Zuckerman, Amanda Loftis, Pietro Ceccato, Arve Lee Willingham and Ashutosh Verma
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Julienne Rawlins: Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies
Alexandra Portanova: Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies
Ilana Zuckerman: Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies
Amanda Loftis: Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies
Pietro Ceccato: International Research Institute for Climate and Society, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
Arve Lee Willingham: Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies
Ashutosh Verma: Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-8

Abstract: Leptospirosis is an important waterborne zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic Leptospira . The pathogen is maintained in a population due to chronic colonization and shedding from renal tubules of domestic and wild animals. Humans and other animals become infected when they come in contact with urine from infected animals, either directly or through urine-contaminated surface water. In this study, we screened environmental water on the island of St. Kitts by using a TaqMan based real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) targeting a pathogen specific leptospiral gene, lipl32 . Our results indicate that around one-fifth of tested water sources have detectable leptospiral DNA.

Keywords: Leptospira; molecular detection; environmental transmission; leptospirosis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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